Rules of Engagement
by misfit320
Summary: How are two Spectres and their misfit crew supposed to stop the Reapers? And what happens along the way? Rated M for language, violence, and suggestive content, most in later chapters. *Updated: Now with Chapter titles! Neato!*
1. Briefing Room

**OK, so here's one of my main stories in my "Road to Babylon" series. This is set right after "Coffee." **

**Important note: I started working on this in October, and for the most part, was entirely written before Mass Effect 3 came out. Any similarities between my story and the game are a result of me just being amazingly precognitive. I'll mark the chapters that were written after the game got released. **

**Big thanks to owl208, my beta for both this and "Convictions," the sister story to this one.**

**As always, all feedback is welcome!  
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**Of course, Bioware owns all the characters, I just sneak into Bioware's house when they're gone and try them on.**

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><p><span>Rules of Engagement<span>

This was going to be a challenge. Sometimes, Commander John Shepard just had to shake his head at how they were going to manage the situation they were in. Not to complain, he loved having the problem that he did, but if they didn't handle it correctly, it could blow up in everyone's faces.

He was sitting in the comm room of the Normandy with his fiancée, partner, and fellow Spectre Ashley Williams, their XO Miranda Lawson, and Yeoman Kelly Chambers. It had been two weeks since they had received their orders from Councilor Anderson to take the Normandy and hunt down anything that could be of use in the coming war with the Reapers and to destroy anything that could be a threat. So far, they had spent their time collecting the rest of their Strike Team, who had dispersed to their own lives after the Normandy came back from destroying the Collector's base. Now they were back to full capacity.

They also had the Normandy re-commissioned as an Alliance ship, and any of the Cerberus crew that wanted to stay aboard had been offered commission into the Alliance. While some of the crew had left because they didn't want to serve in the Alliance, most stayed aboard, excited to keep working with Shepard. What crew they had lost had been quickly replaced with the pick of the Fifth Fleet, as offered by Admiral Hackett.

When all was said and done, though, there was little room left on the ship. While the Cerberus-built Normandy was twice the size of the original Normandy, they were carrying three times the crew. Not just crew, but they still had their large Strike Team. It worked out that they had two of each specialty, as they had split the team between Shepard's designated ground team, and Ash's. It also gave them plenty of flexibility in any potential missions they would undertake, as they could setup a team heavy in firepower to distract an enemy force while they setup a team designed for espionage to sneak in behind them, or create multiple teams to engage an enemy on multiple fronts.

While Shepard and Ash usually handled the ground operations, Miranda tended to handle things directly related to the ship's operations; crew assignments, making sure they had enough supplies and fuel, but she also weighed in on objectives and potential strategies, as well as being the third in command. Feeling the odd man out was Kelly, whose duty as Yeoman didn't truly warrant her in this meeting, but her second job as ship counselor, along with her keen insight into the crew and Strike Team's emotional state, could help make sure they didn't run into any unexpected complications due to interpersonal problems. Problems which would likely flare up sooner or later.

While Tali and Legion, whose races had been at war for centuries, would get along, chances were that any other quarians they met would not respond well to having a geth around. Similarly, if an eye wasn't kept on Zaeed and Grunt, the two might end up killing each other during one of their sparring sessions. And of course there was always the wild card of Jack, though Shepard had a hunch she was slowly coming out of her shell: she had recently given herself the accurate, but slightly humorous handle of "The Psychotic Biotic," which showed a sense of humor that she hadn't ever shown before.

Shepard's ground team usually consisted of Garrus, Jack, Grunt, Legion, and Kasumi, while Ash usually took Tali, Thane, Samara, Zaeed, and Jacob. This division had happened almost naturally, so there hadn't been any acrimony when Ash and Shepard had discussed it. Of course this lead to some healthy competition between the teams, which usually lead to playful challenges during training sessions.

They had easily decided to rotate squads, so if a mission only required one team, the other would stay on the ship and act as reinforcements in case any were needed. Once that mission was over, they'd switch, so that each team, ideally, would have the same amount of time on the ground.

The issue that they were running into was that a lot of the operations they were planning were on the small side, so that not even a full team would be required. Of course, there would be the bigger jobs, especially the closer they got to the coming war, but right now, with most of their attention focused on tracking down leads of millennia old technology and information, they weren't planning on seeing too much combat in the coming weeks. Of course, they all knew that this could change in a heartbeat: after all, it had been a routine mission when the original Normandy had been destroyed.

John and Ash were concerned that with the lack of leads they currently had, that they wouldn't be able to find anything in time that would be of any use. Kelly was worried that the extra time on the ship might make them restless, and eventually breakdown the team structure and Miranda was concerned about the teams getting bored and eventually losing people. Of course they were getting help: both the Council and the Alliance were sending them any information they could put together, as well as Miranda's contacts that she still had in both Cerberus and her father's organization. They all knew, though, that Liara, acting both as the Shadow Broker and an expert on prothean history, would probably be able to get them the best information.

They were currently on their way to Illos. Since Saren's betrayal, several scientific teams had gone there to see if any information could be gleamed from the vast amount of prothean technology, but the planet still seemed to be a hot zone for heretic Geth, so little progress had been made. They were going to see if they might be able to get Vigil, the prothean VI that Shepard had encountered, back online and access all of the data he had. Legion believed that he might be able to interface properly with the VI, as long as Tali would be able to get the actual computers up and running. The rest of the teams would provide security for them, as well as hunt out any remaining heretic geth in the area.

The Council thought that, if they could understand what the Protheans had known about the Reapers, they would be able to add what information they already had, they'd better understand what happened to the Protheans, and how to avoid their fate. There was also the thought that there would be records of any technology that had been developed to combat the Reapers. Shepard and Ash both felt that was naïve, since the Protheans on Illos had been awakened after the genocide, but they didn't say that to the Council.

"Well, with what Liara sent us, I'm not holding out hope that Illos is going to give us anything," Shepard sighed, dropping the papers in his hand down onto the table.

"I don't think we really should waste our time going there. It's a dead end, and if they couldn't get anything from Illos in two and a half years, I don't think we're going to get anything in a couple days. I know our priority is to try to get Vigil up and running, but it's been shut down since we encountered it the first time." Ash had almost groaned when the Council told them to try Illos first. Miranda also thought it was a bad idea, but with lack of any other leads to start with, they had decided to go. On their way there, they would try all of their contacts and see what else they could find, as they all expected that this would be a dead end.

"If that Collector base was still around, we could look into that." Ash quickly looked over to John, "Not that I think what you did was wrong, but they were in contact with the Reapers. Hell, they were _building_ one of the damn things! Who knows what information we missed out on?"

"In all fairness, I think we only would have gotten more information on the Collectors from that base. While they were building a Reaper, it looked like they were using their technology, not Harbinger's." Miranda said, leaning back in her chair.

Shepard thought for a moment. "We might be able to go back through the Omega 4 relay, and see if the explosion left anything useful. Granted, the base would be destroyed, but there might be something. Personally, I'd say that's a last resort, but it could be an option."

Ash shook her head. "That bomb would have wiped out everything. Besides, the Mass Relay might have gotten pushed out of position; we could materialize in the heart of a black hole."

"On the other hand," countered Miranda, "enough of the base may have survived for us to take a look. Any information would be better than the no information that we have now."

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather not throw all of our lives away on a 'maybe.'" A thoughtful expression crossed Ash's face. She didn't want to dismiss Miranda, especially since she had a point. "Why don't we ask EDI to run some tests to see if the end relay is still in position, and if we might be able to make the trip? Maybe we could send a probe or something before we take the Normandy through. If we have to do it, we might as well do it right."

Miranda nodded in agreement. "I agree, both in researching it and as a last resort. It's the best chance of getting something useful, but we do need more information. We can't recon anything if we're dead."

Shepard was almost surprised that Ash and Miranda worked so well together. He thought that they would clash, especially considering how strong willed they both were, but so far, they'd been working together very well.

Shepard turned to Kelly. "Any thoughts on how the crew will take the possibility about going through Omega 4?"

Kelly looked almost surprised that he had asked her. She thought for a moment, and, almost nervously, replied. "I think that going back… there... would be best left unless nothing else had any results. While the Strike Teams may look forward to it due to the possibility of some ground fighting, if there's enough of the base left for that, the crew, especially those of us that have been there before, would have a difficult time of it. Not to mention the fact that there's no way to send a distress call from there is anything happens. The whole journey would be… taxing."

They all nodded. While Shepard and Miranda and the rest of the team had been fighting the collectors, Kelly and the rest of the actual crew had been prisoners, watching as captured colonists had been reduced to a genetic paste to build a new Reaper. Ash, while she hadn't been there, could only imagine what it had been like.

Shepard sighed. He hadn't even thought about how going back there would affect the crew. He hadn't missed on Kelly's use of the word "us" when talking about the crew. She had been in one of those pods as well.

"In that case," Miranda cut in, "it might be best not to tell anyone until we've decided to go. No need to unduly stress them when they should be focused."

"I think that would be best. If we do go back to the Collector's base, I think the crew would appreciate knowing that it's because we have nothing else to go on."

Shepard, Ash and Miranda all nodded. As much as they didn't want to, with the lack of leads they currently had, this was looking to be the best option they had so far.

"EDI?" Miranda knew that, while the AI would be able to monitor the conversation, she would not interrupt their meeting unless she had to, nor would she make her presence known unless asked. Right after Miranda had called her name, EDI's familiar blue orb appeared at the holoemitter in the middle of the table.

"Yes, Miss Lawson?"

"Would you be able to run some tests and simulations to see if the Omega 4 relay is still stable enough for transit? We may be in need for a return trip to the Collector's base."

"I can certainly run these simulations. By my calculations, though, the explosives used to destroy the base would certainly have caused a large shockwave into the debris field. While I am confident that I can confirm if the relay is stable, I would not be able to confirm the status of the debris surrounding the base without better information regarding it."

"An idea trashed by trash," Ash muttered.

"Not necessarily, Lieutenant Commander Williams. When a ship exits a mass relay transit, their kinetic shields discharge some of their power in a bubble shape around the ship. With proper modifications, the Normandy's kinetic shields could be updated to provide a much larger discharge, providing a momentary field clear of any debris."

"EDI, I have to ask," Said Shepard, "Why wasn't this mentioned before our last mission there? And why isn't this something that's standard with every ship?"

"The modifications would take some time to install. Also, by setting up the kinetic barriers to project the field outwards, it would temporarily take them off-line, as the Normandy would have to recharge the shields completely. This is, of course, barring any damage done to the systems from such massive energy expenditure."

"Without the kinetic shields, we'd be a sitting duck to any stray scrap of metal. Any impact could be devastating." Miranda had a knack for saying exactly what everyone was thinking, but it didn't make it any less true, or unnerving.

"I don't know about everyone else, but I think we should hold off on doing this until we can upgrade the shields to not overload on us and leave us floating in space. EDI, run your simulations and look into those upgrades." Shepard wasn't looking forward to going through Omega 4, but he knew it would have to be an option.

"Well, we can't really do anything until we see what Ilos has for us, so why don't we reconvene then?"

Everyone nodded their agreement to Shepard's idea. They all stood from their seats, and made their way out of the comm room, through the armory, and out to the CIC. From there, Kelly returned to her station to the right of the galaxy map, while Miranda made her way to the elevator to return to her office. Shepard and Ash stood for a moment near his terminal.

"I think I'm going to head down to the cargo bay. In the past few days I've done more reading of reports than actually working out. I feel like I'm going to go soft." Shepard was only half-joking at this. While it was true they had exhaustively gone over every report and scrap of information they could get in the past week, both he and Ash knew that there was no way he would be going soft.

"I'm going to conference with Jacob about some new upgrades for our weapons; see what he thinks of them."

"Ok. I'll see you upstairs in a little bit?"

"You better believe it. After all, it is a trip to Ilos, and we do have a tradition to uphold."

Shepard smiled, remembering the night before they had gone to Ilos while hunting Saren. That had been the night that Ash had come to him in his cabin on the original Normandy, and they had finally expressed how they felt about each other, in more ways than one.

"Chief, not even a herd of angry krogan could keep me away." While Shepard was technically no longer Ash's Commanding Officer, and Ash herself had been promoted from Operations Chief to Lieutenant Commander, the terms had come to mean more to them than just shortened versions of their ranks. They had become their pet names for each other, their own unique terms of endearment. While neither of them were ever comfortable discussing their feelings, they knew what the other meant when they used them.

They smiled at each other for a moment, and then Ash turned to go back to the Armory, while Shepard turned to go to the elevator that would take him to the cargo bay. While it still held the hammerhead hovercraft, Mako, and their Kodiak shuttle, they still had plenty of room left over to use as a workout room and gun range. They even had enough room for a small sparring area, which was usually used by their resident biotics to train and test out new abilities. With the diverse type of people they had in the strike team, there was always some new technique or skill that could be learned, and their biotics, Jack, Samara, and Miranda, took full advantage of this.

Most of the time, Shepard just used the rough track around the perimeter of the cargo bay, and improvised gun range. He had never been one for working out, since he had always felt it was better train by doing, rather than using weights to gain useless muscle mass that was more cosmetic than useful. That's why, since he had enlisted, he had kept regular, but relatively light, workout schedule for himself. It was more important that his conditioning was kept high, which had always been second to none. So when he arrived at the Normandy's improvised gym, he did a quick warm-up, then started running some laps, alternating the speed between a full out sprint and a leisurely jog.

He had to admit to himself that he was starting to get anxious to get out of the ship. While he had been in command not only during their hunt for Saren but also in their campaign against the Collectors, he always had an objective to move towards. Now, they were to gather information. He didn't like not knowing what to do next. Even when the Council hadn't been listening to him when he had been trying to warn them about the Reapers, and later the Collectors, he still had a clear goal.

He was rounding the corner near the shuttle, when he saw a dark figure slip from the shadows, trying to trip him off of his feet. A quick shift to his right sent him up the slightly inclined wall, and he spring-boarded off of a crate to land facing the way he had come from, and where his attacker was. He landed in a crouch; ready to move in whichever direction he would need to, wondering how someone could have snuck on board the Normandy.

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><p>As Shepard readied himself for a fight, he mentally ran through various escape routes if he was outclassed in the fight. Of course, he would need to raise the alarm; if there was one hostile on board, there could be many more. His first thought was that the Cerberus crew had turned, but he quickly discounted that. They had all proved their loyalty to him. That left the Alliance personnel, but seeing as they had all been personally recommended by Admiral Hackett, so Shepard knew it couldn't be any of them. While he was coming up with his plan, he heard a slow clap from the shadows, as Jack emerged from her hiding spot.<p>

"Good reaction time, Shepard. I thought you might be slowing down, but you proved me wrong. You might be able to save the galaxy for a third time after all." Shepard eased himself back to standing. He had to admit he was surprised that Jack had stayed on after the mission to the Collector's base. He thought she would have left after they got back to Omega for repairs, but she had stayed. He was even more surprised that she had stayed after their stop at the Citadel. While Councilor Anderson had promised her a full pardon for all past and pending criminal charges against her by the Alliance, he knew she wasn't concerned about that. He didn't know exactly why she had stayed, but he was thankful she had.

Though if she was going to jump out at him when he was running laps, he would have to reconsider. "I didn't think you were the sneak attack type. I thought you were always more of a 'run in all guns blazing' type."

"Naw, sometimes you gotta change it up. You taught me that."

Shepard started to walk over to the lockers that had been moved down for everyone. He figured his workout was done for the day. Jack walked alongside him, _another_ _first_, Shepard thought, as she had usually walked behind everyone.

"Usually, one doesn't attack their commanding officer unless there's a reason. And since you're not being followed by an angry mob of mutineers, I can only assume you wanted to talk about something."

Jack suddenly looked down, and, almost subconsciously, fell half a step behind Shepard.

"Um, yeah. Listen, you know about Pragia and all that shit that those sick fucks put me through."

Shepard nodded to himself. When Jack had asked that they take a detour to destroy the facility on Pragia where a rogue Cerberus cell had experimented on her as a child, he had been impressed with her ability to actually ask him to do it. He knew she was less than enthused that he had brought Miranda with them, but since it was a Cerberus facility, he knew Miranda might be needed to access any databases they came across.

They had taken out a group of Blood Pack mercenaries who had been hired by another former test subject to try to salvage the base and restart it. Jack, at Shepard's urging, had let him go, but they had still blown the facility sky high, leaving nothing more than a smoldering crater, which the dense jungle would cover in a matter of weeks anyways. If Jack was bringing it up again, perhaps the wounds went deeper than just that facility, though.

"Well, when we docked at Omega, and then the Citadel, I was able to do some digging. I found some more files, ones that I hadn't had access to when you brought me on board. It seems that Timmy had a hard on for creating the perfect human biotic for a long time." The crew's nickname for the Illusive Man was always used as more of an insult than a joke. It had started with Jack, appropriately enough, and taken on a life of its own, especially amongst the Strike Team. While Shepard rarely used it, as he knew some of the original Cerberus crew didn't like it, he understood why everyone else did. "The facility that used me was only one of many. While it looks like the one I was in was the worst, the fact that they did this to other kids… when I read the report, I wanted to find Timmy and rip him apart, atom by atom."

Shepard knew Jack wasn't exaggerating, and that she could do exactly what she had threatened to. "I understand. The thought of other kids having to try to survive a batarian slaver raid like I had to makes me sick to my stomach, but I can only imagine what it's like to find out that there were other kids being treated like you were."

Jack perched up on a crate while Shepard got a bottle of water and a towel out of his locker. He sat down on the bench, and looked up to her. "What do you want to do?"

Jack looked him straight in the eye. "I want to kill every single sick fuck that had anything to do with any of those places."

Shepard held her gaze for a moment. As usual, there was not a bit of exaggeration in her statement, or second-guessing in her thinking. She had decided on what she wanted and God help anyone that tried to talk her out of it.

"Well, I can't promise to turn us all into a rogue hit squad, but I'll make you a deal. You get a list of the other facilities, and we'll investigate. I won't promise that we'll hunt everyone down, but we'll look into it."

Jack thought for a moment, thinking it over. She hadn't expected Shepard to agree to hunt down all of the scientists involved, but part of her was surprised that he had agreed to help at all. "Ok, deal."

Shepard nodded at her, and then stood up. He walked over to the cargo bay doors and stopped. He turned back to Jack, who was still on the crate. "One other thing, though, and I know you won't like it. You should talk to Miranda about this."

He could see the reaction easily on Jack. Not only did her face contort in an expression of rage, disgust, and shock, but she slid off the crate and assumed an almost attack posture. "The cheerleader? No, not gonna happen. I'll fucking jump ship and do it myself!"

Shepard didn't step forward, but he squared himself to her. He wasn't going to let this go. "If we're going into Cerberus facilities, she's the one with the information and access that we'll need. She's not with Cerberus anymore, but she still has contacts in the organization that will help her. And you and I both know that she's one of the best in coming up with a plan of attack. You know I wouldn't ask you to work with her on this if I didn't think it was the best way to get it done. Besides, she'll be able to strategize this so that it fits right in with our overall mission, ok?"

He could see that she was still angry, but that she also knew he was right. "Alright, fine. But if she so much as breathes wrong at me, I'll rip her in half and use her skin as a jacket, just so we're on the same page."

Shepard let the slight smile he was fighting slip through. "Noted. And Jack, I promise, I'll do whatever I can."

"Whatever. Don't make promises you can't keep. But… thanks."

Shepard nodded at her, then left the cargo bay and entered the elevator. _She's coming out of her shell a lot more, lately_ he thought to himself. _Here's hoping having her work with Miranda won't result in either of them killing the other_, though the fact that she had called her "cheerleader" and not "Cerberus bitch" was a step forward in the right direction. Still, while the elevator was still in transit, he keyed his omni-tool to give Miranda a heads up, nevertheless.

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><p>Shepard arrived at the Captain's quarters, the uppermost level on the ship. He shared the rather luxurious accommodations with Ash. After their reunion, engagement, and his moving in with her on the Citadel, it would have been preposterous for them to maintain separate quarters on the Normandy. He supposed it would have been the more "military" thing to do, but they weren't concerned about it. They were open and honest with everyone on the ship about their relationship, and, while technically they were using loopholes in the rules about fraternization, and they both valued their and each other's careers, they weren't about to hide it from anyone. If they ended up failing to stop the Reapers, they weren't going to regret not having enough time for each other.<p>

He walked into their quarters to find Ash sitting at the terminal in the office part of the room, going over some reports. He leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So, Chief, anything interesting?"

"No, just going over some more reports on Ilos… again. Enjoy your workout?"

Shepard stood, and walked into the bathroom, where he started the shower. "The run itself was good. What happened after was interesting, though."

"Oh? Do tell." Ash closed the terminal and turned in her seat as Shepard stripped out of his clothes. "By the way, love the view, Skipper."

Shepard shot her a quick smirk as he got in the shower. "Jack wanted to talk to me about something."

"Jack wanted to talk? Wow, soon she'll be wearing an actual shirt and drinking afternoon tea in the mess."

"I wouldn't hold your breath on either of those. Anyways, it looks like she found some more Cerberus facilities like the one she was in. Besides hunting down everyone that worked at them, she asked if we could investigate the facilities."

"Really? She really has opened up since you first met her. I mean, I just met her right before we left the Citadel, but from what you told me, it's a big improvement."

"It is. I told her we'd do what we could but… I told her to talk to Miranda about it, too."

"Commander John Shepard, that is absolutely evil!"

"That's what she thought to. But Miranda will be able to get us the information needed to hit a Cerberus base, and she would be able to plan it around whatever leads we get. But I have to admit to an ulterior motive, too."

"Why, Skipper, I do believe that you've learned duplicity in the past few hours. You'd better stop talking to Liara so much, or you might become the next Shadow Broker."

"It's nothing like that. But I know that it's one thing for Jack to ask me about it. It's… easier, for her to talk to me about these things than anyone else. But this was a facility that had nothing to do with her, it's about other people. If she can bring herself to talk to Miranda about this, then it'll show that it's more than just revenge for what happened to her, and that she actually does care about what happens to other people."

Ash listened intently to Shepard's reasoning. She had to admit that the last reason he had was a good one; from everything she had been told about Jack, this was a huge step in coming out of her abrasive, angry shell that she had put herself in. "Maybe you're right. I just hope we don't end up having to clean the blood off the walls."

At that moment, the comm unit in the cabin chirped. Ash looked over to it and opened the channel, just as Shepard stepped out of the shower. He started toweling himself off as Ash answered the call.

"Yes?"

They were both slightly startled to hear Miranda's voice respond. "Ash, is Shepard there?"

Shepard walked over into the office, with his towel around his waist. "I'm here. Is everything ok?"

"Yes, Shepard. I got your message just a moment before Jack walked into my office. What did you do to her?"

Ash and Shepard exchanged grim looks. Evidently, Shepard had misjudged. "What do you mean, Miranda? What happened?"

"She… she… talked to me like a normal person!" The genuine confusion in Miranda's voice made both Ash and Shepard start laughing. "I'm serious; she walked in, said 'I need to talk to you about something,' and laid it all out there, without threatening me once! I believe that you may have finally tamed the beast, Shepard."

"Well, I figured that it's something worth investigating. And for your sake, I won't mention to Jack what you just called her."

"Thank you Shepard. One of the facilities is actually only a day's journey away from Ilos. With your and Ash's permission, I'll confirm that with Joker as our second destination."

Ash and Shepard looked at each other, and shrugged. "Sure. No reason to delay.'

"Thank you, Commander."

As Miranda closed the channel, Ash and Shepard looked at each other, and almost burst out laughing again.

* * *

><p>Later, Shepard and Ash lay in bed together, Ash with her head on Shepard's chest. They had enjoyed a quiet, romantic dinner in their quarters before taking full advantage of their privacy. Shepard couldn't help but think of the night Ash had come to him in his quarters in the original Normandy before their first journey to Ilos. Then, they didn't know if they would survive, and he had been concerned when they both awoke that it would be attributed to out of control passions. When they had gotten back to the ship after defeating Sovereign, though, they had been nearly inseparable, and grew even closer than before. Of course, they had to maintain the appearance that they were just friends while near others, but it would have been nearly impossible for at least some of the crew not to pick up on it. They took all of their meals together, laughed at private jokes, and would take walks through the ship during their down time.<p>

Of course, every night she would slip into his quarters, and would remain there for hours, until she would tear herself away to return to her own quarters, lest someone find her missing. She had been in his quarters, in a position very much like this when the Collectors had attacked. They had geared up in record time, and then…

Shepard quietly shook his head. He wouldn't think about those terrible moments anymore. They were alive, they were together, and they were a team. They had an even more important mission now than before, and their odds of survival were lower than ever before, but he was convinced that they would be able to defeat the reapers.

"Thinking about the mission, Skipper?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You tensed up, like you were ready to get all soldiery on me."

Shepard chuckled quietly to himself. "Sorry, just… thinking."

Ash picked her head up to look at him. "About anything in particular?"

Shepard sighed. "The last time we were like this… what we've gone through... what we're going through… what's to come… the usual."

Ash adjusted so she was resting her chin on Shepard's chest, looking at him. "Last time we were like this was back on the Citadel, in my… I mean our, apartment."

He smiled. She always knew how to cheer him up, how to motivate him. She never let him dwell on anything too long. He kissed her on the forehead, and started running his hands through her long, brown hair. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," she sighed. She started tracing circles on his chest with her finger. "Hey, Skipper," she said, not looking up at him, "have you thought about what we're going to do after the whole reaper thing is over with? You know… the whole us thing?"

He smiled, looking at her. "Well Chief, I put that ring on your finger, so I have an idea of what I'd like to do."

She looked down at her hand. She still couldn't believe that they were engaged. If it had been her, she probably would have waited until after the reapers had been stopped. The fact he had proposed before showed how hopeful he was that they would prevail. "You know what I mean."

"I do. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what will happen. But I am sure about us. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked."

"With the two of us being Spectres, and Marines… life could get complicated. What if the Council orders us away from one another? What if they don't like the fact that we'll be married by then? What if…"

He leaned up and kissed her on the mouth. He found that it was the most effective, and fun, way of quieting her down. "Those are a lot of what ifs, Chief. Let me put it to you this way: no matter what happens, I'll be right there beside you. If the Council decided they don't like the thought of us being together, then we'll figure out what to do then."

"But, I mean, there's a lot to think about. Where would you want to live? Do you want to go back to Mindoir? There's a whole lot we haven't talked about."

"Well, no time like the present. For starters, no, I don't want to go back to Mindoir. Yes, I still have some friends there, but that place hasn't been home since the attack. Ideally, I'd like to get a place near your family. And before you think for a moment that that's only to please you, it's because I can't think of a more loving, caring environment that we could be in. And if we decide to start a family, where better than near them?"

Ash was surprised by the last part of Shepard's statement. "A family? Skipper, you're always finding new ways to surprise me. You never mentioned this before."

He shrugged, which wasn't that easy while lying down with her almost laying on top of him. "I'm just saying that if that's what the future holds, why not? I'm not going to stop planning for the future just because there's a chance that the galaxy may not have much of a future."

They both knew that there was more than just a chance that the galaxy didn't have a future; there was a very good chance. Unless they could find a way to fight the reapers, they couldn't hope to survive.

"Skipper, I can't tell if you're an optimist or just naïve sometimes," Ash laughed. "We're getting ready for the fight of our lives, and you're planning our quiet, domestic life together. I'll bet you even have the drapes picked out."

"Hey, I do not. Granted, I've always liked teal…"

This garnered a deep laugh from Ash. She snaked her leg over Shepard, then shifted herself so she was straddling him. She looked down at her fiancée. His determination was one of the things she admired about him. He wasn't just hopeful that they'd win, he was convinced of it.

Almost as if he could read her mind, he looked into her eyes. "I'm not naïve, Ash. I know that we're in a tough spot. But I'm not about to throw in the towel. I'll fight until the end, as long as I have you by my side."

_He certainly knows how to make those butterflies in my stomach dance like an over caffeinated salarian. _

Shepard then smiled wickedly. "Of course, where you're at right now is pretty good, too."

They both laughed. "Well, Skipper," she purred, "why don't we make the most of every moment that we have." The last words where breathed into Shepard mouth, as she pressed herself to him.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there it is, the first chapter. Let me know what you all think!<strong>

**Stay tuned, lots more to come!  
><strong>


	2. Planning the Next Move

**So, here's chapter 2 in Shepard and Ash's story. Thanks everyone for the feedback on chapter 1, I hope I can deliver with this one!**

**As always, all feedback/comments are welcome! Even if you hate it, I can't fix it or get better if you don't tell me!**

**Bioware owns the characters, but I own an imagination... so... take that!**

* * *

><p>"I'm out of ammo!"<p>

Grunt's call came over the din of rifle fire. Shepard grimaced; since they had landed on Ilos, they had been in a constant firefight, and that was over an hour ago. He figured the liberally firing Grunt would be the first to run out of ammo, now he was counting the minutes until the rest of his squad started running out.

They were pinned down just outside of the spillway where Shepard had found Vigil years before; or rather where Vigil hand found Shepard. Joker had been able to get the Mako to the open areas past the tunnel, but as soon as the Mako landed, a huge heretic Gath force had attacked. They had made their way closer to the tunnel, but they were still under heavy fire, and running dangerously low on ammo.

Shepard saw Jack toss an SMG over to Grunt, with a few clips strapped to the sides. The area was still too hot for Ash's squad to land the Kodiak shuttle there, but they had managed to land the hammerhead hovercraft with Jacob and Thane inside a few kilometers away during the initial landing, and they were making their way as quickly as they could, although they were running into opposition of their own. Doing a few quick calculations, Shepard figured they'd probably get overrun thirty seconds before the hammerhead arrived, of course, as long as the hammerhead was able to clear its way to them soon.

Almost on cue, the comm unit in Shepard's ear crackled to life. "Normandy to team one, we got a present for you. Hope you don't mind, it looks like the Geth are gonna get to play with them first."

Shepard looked up to see the Normandy coming in, incredibly low. The smaller turrets on the ship were shooting down to the enemy on the ground, and Shepard saw the Kodiak just under the Normandy, making its way through the trench towards Shepard's location. Anti-aircraft fire bounced off of the Normandy's shields, and Shepard noticed that the Kodiak was so close to the Normandy that it was still within its shield radius, staying protected on its approach. Just as they reached Shepard's position, the Kodiak made an impossible dive, and landed in the small clearing that the entrenched Team One had found themselves in. The doors slid opened, and Ash's team started to pour from the shuttle, with Shepard's team providing cover fire.

"Buddy up people, and share the wealth!" Ash shouted the instructions to her team over the sound of gunfire. Her team made their way to the spots where Shepard's team had bunkered down. Shepard saw they each had extra ammo strapped to their armor, and as each of Ash's team got to cover, they took the extra packs and gave them to Shepard's team. A sudden sound off to Shepard's left pulled his attention back, as he looked up he saw Ash come over the small dirt mound that Shepard was behind.

"Way to check your six, Skipper. Good thing I'm checking it for you" She said as she handed Shepard some extra ammo clips for his rifle.

"We're in the middle of a firefight and you're checking my 'six?'" He smiled as he reloaded.

"And a mighty fine 'six' it is." The two teams quickly started working to clear the valley of the remaining geth. Garrus and Legion were using their considerable sniper skills to whittle down the enemy numbers, while Grunt and Zaeed were barreling towards the front lines, their grenades quickly reducing the enemy's cover to dust.

Samara and Jack, meanwhile, were tearing the geth from their positions, and flinging them into the air, making them target practice for the rest of the team. Soon, the valley was clear of hostiles, and the Spectres could take full stock of their situation. While the rest of the team restocked their ammo from the Kodiak, Shepard took a moment to call the Normandy.

"Shepard to Normandy, thanks for the help, and nice flying there, Joker."

"Aww, thanks Commander. And all this time, I thought my talents were going unnoticed."

Sheaprd glanced over at Ash, who was on the channel with him. He smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Joker, I don't think we could ever NOT notice you, no matter how hard we tried."

"Hey, easy now, Ash. Even though I'm still single, you're engaged now."

This time it was Shepard's turn to roll his eyes. "Status report, are we clear for the time being?"

Shepard was almost thankful that it was Miranda's voice that came over the comm. "Yes, the only other geth encampments are on the far side of the continent, so unless anyone wanders off, you'll be in the clear for awhile. We'll keep you posted if we notice any activity."

"Thanks, Miranda. We'll secure ourselves down here and get to work. Shepard out." Shepard looked over to Ash. "Have you heard anything from Jacob?"

Ash nodded. "Just raised him, he's thirty seconds out, coming down the main spillway behind us. I told him to hold that end of the tunnel while we try to get to Vigil."

Shepard nodded. "Good. Let's post some people down here to hold this end, and load up the Mako to go in."

As Ash communicated the plans to Jacob and Thane in the Hammerhead, Shepard went over to the Kodiak and replenished his own ammo supplies. "Ok, everyone, listen up. We have Jacob and Thane in the Hammerhead down at the other end of the spillway. We're going to setup a team to cover this end, and then the rest of us will move in to try to secure the prothean VI. As soon as we can get whatever we can, we're out of here."

At this point, Ash joined him at the shuttle. "Legion, Tali," she nodded to each of their tech specialists, "we don't have a lot of time here. We need to get what we can, and get out. We're clear of geth for now, but there might be more on their way, so everyone stay on your toes."

Shepard took a quick appraisal of the team. Everyone was ready to work. ". Garrus, Zaeed, Samara, you cover this end of the tunnel. Everyone else, to the Mako."

The groups started moving to their respective assignments. At the Mako, Shepard climbed in behind the pilot's station, with Ash next to him. Kasumi and Tali joined them inside, while the rest grabbed onto the foot and hand rails that had been added to the outside.

"Um… Skipper?"

Shepard turned to look at Ash. "Yeah, Chief?"

"Want me to drive?"

Shepard tilted his head slightly. "What, you don't have faith in my driving abilities, Chief?"

Ash swallowed. "It's not that. It's just… well, I remember a few moments on Noveria when we almost went over the side of a cliff…"

"We were under fire from dozens of geth armatures!"

"… and Virmire, and Ferros, and Luna, and..."

"Ok, I get your point. But I do this under duress, got it Chief?"

"Duly noted, Skipper."

Ash and Shepard tried to switch seats as quickly as they could, but in the cramped confines of the Mako, it proved to be rather awkward, especially in full armor. It ended up with Shepard having to slide under Ash, while she slid over him. After they had gotten themselves into their new seats, Shepard heard Tali and Kasumi both giggle. "If either of you recorded that, I'll kill you."

"Shepard," replied Tali, "I would never dream of such a thing. Though some would find it an interesting example of human mating practices."

"Hey, what's the hold up?" Grunt called in from the outside. Before anyone else could respond, Kasumi yelled out the open hatch "Shepard and Ash decided now would be a good time to demonstrate human mating habits for Tali!"

"Ha, good for you, Shepard, there's always time to…"

"Stow it, Grunt!" Shepard couldn't believe this. He looked over to Ash, who was just grinning at the absurdity of it all. "This wouldn't have happened if you had let me drive."

Ash flashed him a quick wink. "Oh come on, we both know our mating practices are a whole lot more interesting than that."

She gunned the engine and sent the Mako roaring down the spillway as Tali and Kasumi both completely lost control and broke down in hysterical laughter.

* * *

><p>Six hours later, everyone was back on board the Normandy. They had lucked out that they were left alone for quite some time while down on Ilos, so they had plenty of time to try to access Vigil, the prothean VI. While Legion and Tali hadn't been able to get the VI operational again, they had been able to get massive amounts of data downloaded. They had also been able to get the main hardware back to the Normandy where they were working on patching it into some computer terminals to see if they could access the main operating system as well.<p>

Of course, after awhile, the remaining geth had launched an assault and had nearly trapped the team in the spillway. With Joker's precision flying, though, and weapons support from EDI, they had been able to get off the surface before being overrun. Now, everyone was engaging in their own post-mission habits while the Normandy made its way to Omeron to follow up on a request from Miranda and Jack.

Up in their quarters, Ash and Shepard were in the shower, trying to get the grease and dirt from the successful operation off of themselves, and each other.

"I never thought we'd go back to Ilos, skipper. Much less of our own free will."

"Tell me about it, Chief. That place was creepy enough when we were just hunting Saren and geth, but after finding out what happened to the protheans, it's a damn sight creepier."

"Do you really think all of the protheans were turned into Collectors?"

"Probably just the ones that submitted to the Reapers. I would have to assume that the ones that fought against them were wiped out."

"Great, that makes me feel so much better about the position we're in."

Shepard looked her right in the eye, which was a testament to his self-restraint, as his eye had a tendency to wander over other parts of her, especially when they were in the shower together. "Ash, we'll get through this. We'll find away to stop them."

Ash smiled up at him. "I know. I know we'll get them. Now turn around so I can get your back."

He smilled as he complied. He felt her hands on his back, and, between the sensation of her touching him, and the hot water pouring over him, felt most of his stress and tension melt away. Showering together had become one of their rituals back on the original Normandy, which usually ended up with Ash having to leave Shepard's quarters with one of his SRV caps that no one ever saw him wear himself in order to hide her wet hair. Now that they didn't have to hide their relationship, they were able to relax a little more.

Shepard tilted his head to each side, cracking it. He then turned around and motioned to Ash that it was his turn to get her back. The slight moans she made as he rubbed the knots out of her back made him smile. "So, Chief, what do you say to seeing what Gardner's rustled up for us for dinner, see if Legion and Tali have made any headway with the prothean data, then reconvene back up here?"

"Mmm… sounds good, Skipper. After that op, I'm famished… in more ways than one." Shepard smiled. Ash was usually frisky after missions, especially the high-tension ones. She slowly turned around to face him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her. "Of course, I'm sure Gardner will still have some dinner left over for us later." Any protest Shepard may have attempted was stifled as she pressed her lips to his.

"Command Shepard, Lieutenant Williams…" EDI's voice came through the cabin's PA. Groaning, Shepard and Ash broke away from each other. "Yes EDI?" Shepard replied as Ash turned off the shower, knowing that they were going to be called away from their private moment.

"There is a message from Liara T'soni for the two of you. It is regarding Ilos."

Shepard smiled. "Well, we just left Ilos, so she's a little late, but we'll get to it. Thanks, EDI."

"You're welcome." Ash shook her head as Shepard grabbed towels for the two of them. "You'd think that Liara would've been able to get a message to us before we hit the planet, right?"

Shepard nodded his agreement as they both finished toweling off. They walked into the cabin and pulled up the message on the terminal. "Let's see what we may have missed out on." Shepard and Ash both smiled at the handle that Liara had sent the message under.

_From: Blueberry_

_To: My favourite Spectres_

_I would be offended to know that the two of you went to Ilos without me if I didn't know that you had just gotten hammered by the geth that were remaining there. Sorry I couldn't give you a heads up about them, they had been dormant until you arrived, so my contact says. I'll have to double check that, but I'm glad to know everyone got out ok. _

_I hear you have some hardware and files on hand from the surface. I might be able to have some extra translation programs sent over to you, based off of the cipher Shiala gave to Shepard. You should be getting it within a day or two, depending on when it's ready._

_I'm making some headway in getting some possible targets for you. Give me a few days, and I'll be able to give you some coordinates. I've also heard some rumors about some smuggling ops that you would be interested in, but I need more info on that. _

_In the meantime, I hear you're hitting some Cerberus facilities. Let me know if I can help with that at all, since you know I have nothing better to do._

_Until then, congratulations on the engagement. We'll all have to get together and catch up some time and share a drink. On me, unless you Spectres can afford the good stuff._

_Talk to you soon._

_Be safe._

Ash's mouth was hanging open, while Shepard was quietly laughing to himself. "How can she know this already? It was only a few hours ago that we landed, and less time than that since we got back to the Normandy!"

Shepard smiled. "The Shadow Broker has her resources. I guess we should feel lucky that she isn't watching us when we sleep."

Ash was silent for a moment. "Now that's a thought that's going to fester until it explodes into full-blown paranoia."

Shepard chuckled as he closed down the terminal. "Better Lirara than the old Shadow Broker, though. At least she won't sell our dirty secrets to that Al-Jilani woman."

Ash tried to hide her disgust at the mention of the reporter from the Citadel. "Ugh. She tried to interview me after the Normandy went down, saying that she had proof we were engaged in an 'inappropriate relationship' and that you had been distracted by it, resulting in the Normandy's destruction."

Shepard turned to look at Ash. She hadn't brought this up before, and he knew how sensitive she still was when it concerned his death. "What happened?" He was almost afraid of the answer.

Ash smirked as she recalled the event. "I made it very clear to her that there was nothing inappropriate with our relationship, the attack came when you were off duty, asleep in your bunk per you normal schedule. Then I shot out her camera, punched her in the face, and told her to go space herself."

Shepard laughed. "You know, I always wanted to do that, but I never thought to shoot the camera first. And that just goes to show why I never want to get on your bad side."

"Damn right you don't! But come on, let's go get some grub, then see what Tali and Legion may have found."

"Right behind you, Chief. We should probably also look over the intel Miranda has on this facility on Omeron we're going to. Sounds like it might bring up some ghosts for Jack, and I want to make sure we're ready for whatever may be down there."

Ash sighed as she dropped her towel, and purposely walked naked over to her dresser. "I almost forgot about that. Sounds like we're going to be pretty busy. And here I was, thinking we could get some alone time," she said, as she looked over her shoulder, making sure Shepard was watching her.

Shepard stood from their desk, dropping his own towel as he walked over to Ash. He stopped right behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her to him. His mouth was next to her ear, and she could feel his warm breath on her neck, which sent shivers up and down her spine. They stood like that for a long moment, each relishing the feel of the other's skin against their own before Shepard spoke. "Sometimes, having to wait for what you want only makes getting it that much better. Don't you agree?"

The reference to their relationship and the time between his death and their reconciliation was lost on her as she could only focus on the feel of Shepard pressed against her. She reached behind her to touch Shepard's cheek, but he quickly moved from behind her, and gave her a playful smack on her behind. "Hey!"

She turned to see Shepard smiling at her as he walked over to his dresser. "Come on, Marine. We'll have plenty of alone time, but we have some work to do first."

Ash shot him a dirty look as she reached for her clothes. "You realize that I'm going to have to make you pay for that. I might develop a headache later, or just get very, very tired."

Shepard smiled as he finished dressing. "You can drill an enemy from a hundred yards away in the middle of the night, in driving rain, reciting Whitman while having a rabid varren chew on your leg, and you're threatening to be out of commission because of a headache? Who are you, and where is the tough marine that I met on Eden Prime?"

Ash smiled back at him. "In case you haven't noticed, in addition to shotguns and sniper rifles, us women also have our feminine wiles at our disposal."

As she finished dressing, she started for the door, with Shepard close behind her. "You have a point, Chief. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

Ash reached the elevator, and opened the door. She entered, and leaned against the wall as Shepard came in behind her. He hit the button to send it to the crew deck, then stood in front of her. She grabbed him by the belt, and pulled him close. "I can think of a few ways… like you get a plate for me while I get the data from Miranda, and grab us some seats in the mess so we can go over everything." She playfully shoved Shepard backwards. "After that, I'll think of something else for you to do."

"Yes ma'am," Shepard said, while snapping of a quick, perfect salute. They both laughed as the doors opened to the crew deck, and Shepard made his way to the kitchen to get their dinner while Ash went over to Miranda's office.

* * *

><p>The door to Miranda's office opened as Ash approached. After their talk a few days ago, Ash was beginning to warm up to the former Cerberus agent, but was still a little wary of her. Miranda looked up. "Ash, is there something I can do for you?"<p>

"Shepard and I were wondering if we could get a copy of the intel on the base on Omeron that we're hitting tomorrow."

Miranda raised one of her eyebrows. "I can assure you, I have everything covered. It's the same setup as the Teltin facility, so Jack, Shepard and I already are familiar with the layout."

Ash nodded. She hadn't meant her request to come off as a vote of no confidence in Miranda's abilities, and wanted to put out that fire quickly. "I understand that, and we have complete faith in you. We actually are a little concerned with Jack. We're going to another facility like the one on Pragia, and who knows what demons that might stir up in her. We'd rather cover our bases by knowing as much as possible about the building and environment as possible, just in case."

Miranda nodded once. "Right. Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten defensive about that. The whole mission just… doesn't sit right with me."

Ash sat down in one of the seats. "Oh? Do you want to do this?"

Miranda looked down. "It's not that I don't want to. I do. I want to look into this. But, I can't believe that the Teltin facility went rogue along with several others. But in looking over the data that Jack had, that seems to be exactly what happened."

Ash nodded. She didn't want to say it, but she had to. "Miranda, have you given any thought to the possibility that… maybe the facilities weren't rogue, but that that's how the whole project was being run?"

Miranda shook her head. "That's impossible. There's no way The Illusive Man would allow that."

"Look, there's a lot that's been done by Cerberus people, either with or without consent, that reflects on the whole group."

Miranda took a moment to let that sink in. "I understand that. The misdeeds of the few always reflect on the whole. Anways, here's the data on Omeron. Thank you, to both of you, for the help on this."

Miranda offered an OSD to Ash, who stood as she took it from Miranda's hand. "It's not a problem at all. But, I do have to say something else."

Miranda looked up at Ash, not knowing what to expect.

"You're a very smart woman. You and I have both heard the reports: the thresher maws, the husks, the assassinations, the genetic experiments… tell me, what are the odds that every single operation that anyone hears about is a rogue cell, and what are the odds that they're doing what they're told, and then being cut loose as soon as they're discovered?"

Ash saw that Miranda didn't have a response for her. So that she could think about what she had said, Ash didn't want to give her the chance to think of one.

"Good Night, Miranda," she said as she walked out the door and turned to the mess. Before the door close, Ash caught Miranda, out of the corner of her eye, close her computer terminals and rest her head in her hands, obviously upset.

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><p><strong>There we go, the latest installment. That last line Ash tells Miranda is something I've been waiting for someone to say for a long time. Guess it was up to me to make it happen. :-)<strong>

**Coming up: doubts, mercs, and Jacob and Ash compare... weaponry.**


	3. Blue Sun Blues

**So, here it is, Chapter 3! Sorry for the delay, everyone! **

**As always, any and all feedback is welcome!**

**Also, as always, Bioware owns the characters, release my own DLC that makes them do what I want. :-)**

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><p>Shepard stood at his terminal in the CIC, staring at the half-finished mission report in front of him. They had gotten back from the Cerberus facility on Persius just a few hours ago, and he was less than happy with how it went. While they had ultimately accomplished their goal of securing more information regarding the program that Cerberus had run experimenting on children to increase their biotic abilities, he also had two of his teammates laid up in Medbay. Jack had a nasty wound in her side from a mercenary's pistol, while Miranda's left ankle was shattered like a china teacup.<p>

He couldn't help but to blame himself. _We were sloppy. We were overconfident, and we let our defenses down. _While he and Ash had made it through with nothing more than a few more scrapes on their armor, he knew that Miranda and Jack's injuries, given their circumstances, could easily have been fatal. He knew that there would be losses in war, especially the coming war with the Reapers, but he had never understood the term "acceptable casualties." Memories of Virmire flashed through his head, as he remembered Kaiden…

He shook his head slightly, focusing back on the mission report. He decided to finish it later, after giving himself some time to clear his head. He shut down the terminal and walked into the armory. As expected, Ash and Jacob were both there, debating the pros and cons of their weapons of choice.

"Oh come on, there is no way you're telling me the E-17 is better than the Vert-93!"

"I'm telling you, the Vert-93 will fall apart in your hands if you use any sort of incendiary or toxic augmentations. The E-17 will take anything you can throw at it."

"And you'll run out of heat sinks before you can spit on the ground. Toss a thermal unit on it, and the Vert-93 is the most…"

"… flimsy piece of garbage put together and labeled an assault rifle!"

Ash flung her hands up in the air in frustration as she turned to Shepard. "Tell him that the Vert-93 is far and away the better gun!"

Shepard smiled. Sometimes, Ash and Jacob could be like two bickering siblings, especially when they started talking about weapons. They both had diametrically opposite philosophies when it came to guns: Ash would strip any weapon down to its base components, replace a few pieces here and there with different ones from different guns, and then reassemble the upgraded weapon. She would have an entire arsenal of rifles, each one custom designed for a specific type of mission.

On the other hand, Jacob preferred to upgrade weapons through the modular upgrades, such as stabilizers, grips, and barrel extenders. He always kept the same shotgun, rifle, and pistol, but would swap out the mods for each mission, depending on the circumstances. His reasoning was that the more familiar you are with a weapon, the easier it is to use, and by keeping the same weapon, it grew to be almost an extension of the user's own body.

"Well, I'm really not getting in the middle of this, but she was carrying a Vert-93 when we took down Saren."

Ash turned to Jacob, a triumphant look on her face. "Ha! There, see?"

"Of course," continued Shepard, "she had modified it so much that it was almost a completely new weapon."

Now it was Jacob's turn to gloat. "So it was less a Vert-93 and more of a Williams-93. That explains why it worked."

Ash's shoulders slumped as she turned back to Shepard. "You know, sometimes you're no help at all, Skipper. Anyways, what's up?"

Shepard walked over to the terminal and leaned against is, facing them, He ran his hands over his face. "Trying to see if I can find a reason to put off finishing a mission report. Any ideas?"

"I think that's my cue to leave you two alone for a while." Jacob started for the door to go to the CIC.

"Oh come on, Taylor, get your mind out of the gutter!"

"No, it's all right, Williams, I know how much you love the armory. Besides, I need to go to the mess anyways; your choice in weapons left a bad taste in my mouth." Jacob grinned as he left the armory.

Ash looked back over to Shepard. "Next time we get into a firefight, he's getting stuck with that piece of crap E-17 he loves, I'll have my Vert-93, and we'll see who gets more kills." Shepard chuckled. "So, what's going on? Avoiding work isn't like you."

Shepard sighed. Ash could read him like an open book. "We were sloppy, and both Jack and Miranda got hurt," he said matter-of-factly. "It could have been a lot worse than it was, but it was still too close for a quick job like that."

Ash walked over to the side of the table directly across from Shepard and leaned against it, facing him. "And you're concerned that when it comes time to the big job, we won't be ready."

"A group mercs got the drop on two Spectres, the most powerful biotic in the history of mankind, and a woman whose hearing is two hundred percent better than the average human's."

Ash nodded as she took in Shepard's words. "I get you. And you think you're to blame?"

Shepard didn't have to say anything. The look he had on his face told Ash that she was right. "Look, things are going to happen during fights that we can't predict. You and I both know that. We can't be on edge all the time, that's how you get people like Jack running around, ready to fight if someone breathes at them wrong."

Despite himself, Shepard had to laugh at the mental picture of Jack walking down a hallway with everyone she passes holding their breath. "You're right. It's just that we have a lot at stake here, and I don't' want to lose anyone because we got careless. We're all too good for that."

At that, they heard the door from the CIC open, and Kelly peaked her head in. "Commanders? A message from someone called 'blueberry' has come over. I thought you might want to know."

"Thanks Kelly. Come on, Skipper, let's see what we got. Hopefully, it's our first good lead." The three of them walked back into the CIC, with Kelly going to her station and Shepard and Ash going to theirs. Ash brought up their mailbox, and saw Liara's message.

_From: Blueberry_

_To:*****_

_I've found something that I believe may be of use to you. I know that Ilos wasn't too fruitful, but this should be. A group of Blue Suns are getting ready to complete a deal to bring in a large amount of prothean weapons and equipment into the traverse. Right now, they're massing on Kranis._

_I've already arranged for you to intercept the full shipment before the buyers get there. If you leave Persius now, you should make it with plenty of time to spare. I'll setup a little surprise to delay the buyers so you won't have to worry about them for too long, but you'll still need to get in and out as quickly as possible. Attached are all the coordinates and details. _

_In the meantime, I've been digging into your side project, the Cerberus bases. I should have something to help you soon._

_Be well._

Ash opened the attached file with the coordinates of Kranis, and plugged them into the computer. "Alright, looks like we got a good solid lead. And it's only two days away, even better." Turning to Shepard, she looked him in the eye. "Think we can handle some Blue Suns?"

Returning her gaze with the determination that had been missing just a few minutes ago, Shepard nodded. "Bring 'em on, Chief."

Ash smiled, glad to know the fire was back in Shepard. She keyed the comm. "Joker, we got a destination. Take us out!"

"Aye aye, Future-Missus-Shepard-ma'am!"

Shepard let out a loud laugh as Ash just slapped her hand to her forehead. "I swear to God I'm going to kill him one of these days."

"At least wait until after we beat the reapers, we need a good pilot."

* * *

><p>A few days later, the whole team was gearing up in the cargo bay. Shepard and Ash had decided to take the whole team instead of just a few people, as this was looking to be a big operation, and they weren't about to take any chances on loosing the cache of prothean weapons and equipment. As the team checked their weapons and finished stocking up on ammo and medi-gel, Ash and Shepard turned from their positions next to the Kodiak to address their teammates.<p>

"Ok, everyone, here's the plan," announced Shepard, getting everyone's attention. EDI projected a blue hologram of the layout of the Blue Suns base, a frigate just slightly largerthan the Normandy, that was grounded in a crater towards the center of a large desert. "We're dropping my team off in the Hammerhead here," as he indicated with his hand, part of the hologram changed to orange, "while Ash's team will land here," again part of the hologram changed to blue, "in the Kodiak. From what our intel tells us, they will be expecting their buyers in about an hour. Our… aide, on this, has delayed them the better part of a solar day, so we have a little less pressure, but we still need to be fast. As soon as we're all in position, the Normandy will pose as the buyer's ship, make contact, and the Blue Suns will bring the merchandise out from storage."

"Now, as soon as the Blue Suns see the Normandy," continued Ash, "They'll know it's a trap. So we want to time it so that my team starts hitting them from behind, drawing their attention, before Shepard's team hits them from the other side. They should be completely flanked and boxed in."

"Remember, we're here to secure the cargo. This is a large amount of prothean weapons and data. The smallest piece may be of great importance. We need to save everything. Losing even one crate could be disastrous. As soon as the shooting starts, the Blue Suns will be more focused on getting out alive than keeping the merchandise safe, so make sure you shoot the mercs, and not the crates." Shepard looked everyone in the eye as he said this, making sure they knew how serious he was about this.

"Alright people, load up!"

Shepard led his team of Garrus, Legion, Kasumi, and Grunt to the Hammerhead, while Ash took Jacob, Tali, Thane, Zaeed, and Samara to the Kodiak. As the Normandy entered the atmosphere, the cargo bay door opened, and both vehicles started to make their way towards the force field. First to launch was the Kodiak, which would take a long sweeping route to the far end of the crater, sticking close to the ground to avoid any radar detection, and far enough away to avoid any ladar. Meanwhile, the Normandy got into position to bring the Hammerhead down, on the near side of the crater, but still far enough outside the Blue Suns' detection radius.

As Shepard hit the thrusters to stop their descent, he navigated the Hammerhead slowly over the crater wall and into a small, craggy ravine that would bring them close to the base. The space was tight, and the hammerhead kept scraping the sides, much to Kasumi's alarm. "Perhaps we should have let Ash drive," she had mentioned more than once, though Shepard wouldn't respond. As they reached the base, Shepard brought the Hammerhead slowly out of ht ravine, and approached the back of the ship, keeping as low as possible.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Kasumi, asked, clearly worried.

"Trust me, Kasumi. I know what I'm doing."

"Could've fooled me," she mumbled, making sure Shepard couldn't hear her, but still getting a smile from Garrus.

As they slowly crept towards the ship, Shepard brought the Hammerhead up and into one of the engine wells, before securing it in park. He turned in his seat to look at Kasumi. "See, didn't I tell you I know what I'm doing?"

"Um… Shepard, in case you didn't notice, we're in an engine well," this time it was Garrus who was concerned.

"Exactly. Once the Blue Suns bring out the cargo and we spring our trap, EDI will take remote control of the Hammerhead and fire a burst down the engine well, disabling the ship and keeping it grounded, in case they try to dust off and escape. Then she'll bring it up to us in case we need additional cover."

"Ok, that much sounds great… but how do you propose we get to our positions?"

Shepard smiled as he reached beneath his seat and pulled out a length of cord, as well as a harness. "Who here likes going rock climbing?"

He was met with silence as the meaning of his words sank in. Finally, Garrus spoke up. "Can I be part of Ash' team from now on?"

* * *

><p>In the end, the ascent from the engine well to the upper hull of the ship had been rather easy. Shepard had made sure the harnesses were all the correct sizes before stowing them on board. Once they were all geared up, they had launched a small rocket topside, where it had then deployed and anchored several magnetic studs onto the hull, each with a line coming down to the team. They had each grabbed a line, thread it through the ascenders in their harnesses, and made it to the top in just a few seconds. They were out of the harnesses and proceeding to their positions quickly, without a word being spoken. With stealth being their main concern, they couldn't risk any chatter over the comm lines, but they had arranged that as soon as they were in position, Ash and Shepard would send a quick signal trough their suits' tracking systems, so a quick light would flashing alerting the other. As soon as they both had given the all clear, the Normandy would make contact to set the rest of the plan in motion.<p>

Shepard had sent his message over a minute ago as his team as quietly waiting on the support pylons for the shuttle platform that the Blue Suns would be bringing the cargo out on. As soon as Ash's team sprang the trap, they would be able to quickly pull themselves up and over the railing.

Right as he was starting to think that they had run into resistance, he saw the all clear signal come through. He felt a quick sensation of relief, but then tensed himself to get ready for the second half of the plan. Over his comm, he heard the Normandy hail the Blue Suns using the system that Liara had found out about. "This is the Gilson. We are coming in for our delivery. Can I get a confirmation?" He nodded at the tone in Joker's voice: causal, but tense enough to give the impression of caution.

"This is Captain Terl. You get loaded when we get payment." The mercenary that was responding was turian, and Shepard held his breath for a moment. They had known about the arrangements from Liara, but he needed the freight brought out, as they hadn't been able to get the account the credit were supposed to transfer to in order to complete their bluff. They were relying on Joker's quick thinking to get them through this part.

"You'll get the rest of the payment when I'm loaded up. I already sent you half, and seeing as you're the one landed on the planet, and I'm still in orbit with all my guns, I'm going to say we do this my way."

"I don't care if you have all the guns in the system, you get loaded when we get paid!"

"Fine, I'll just blow your ship up, take what's left, and keep my credits. Been nice knowing you!"

Shepard counted the heartbeats until the merc's response. "Fine, we're bringing them out to the loading pad. But if there's any funny business, I shoot you out of the sky, and find another buyer." Four.

"Glad we could get that taken care of. That's what I like about you Blue Suns, always able to see reason."

Shepard heard the mercenary disconnect the channel, and smiled to himself. Typical Joker, but he got the job done. Shepard looked to his team, and waited for each to nod at him, showing they were ready. He heard the shuttle pad door open, and peaked over the edge to check on the situation.

Seven armed guards were coming out first, followed by another three who were driving loaders. The low, open vehicles each had a trailer with six large cargo containers on them, each one large enough for a fully armored krogan to stand upright in. The three loaders were followed by six armed guards. He couldn't see further into the cargo bay, but he thought he saw the shadow of a Ymir mech, though he couldn't be sure. Shepard looked over to his left, and saw Garrus checking the scene as well with the detached scope from his sniper rifle. As they both ducked back down, Garrus motioned to Shepard that there was a sharpshooter in each back corner of the cargo bay, and confirmed that it was a mech Shepard had seen.

Nodding, Shepard turned to address Kasumi and Legion to his right. With hand signals, he motioned to tell them how many mercs there were, and their positioning. As he finished, he looked back to Garrus and saw that he was finishing telling Grunt the same thing. He sent a quick message to Ash over his omni-tool to make sure she was aware there was a mech to take care of, then double checked his grip on the lip of the pad. They all looked from one another, just waiting for their signal.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Ash's team stood ready. They had spilt up into three units once she had gotten Shepard's message. Ash and Jacob were ready to jump down and engage the Blue Suns on the pad, while Thane and Tali would rush into the cargo bay, and while Thane went after the sharpshooters, Tali would try to disable the mech before it was brought online. Samara and Zaeed would keep the high ground above the cargo bay.<p>

Ash heard a soft rumble, and looked up. Dipping just below the cloud line was the unmistakable shape of the Normandy. She looked down at the Blue Suns on the pad, and could tell they were realizing that it wasn't their buyer who was here.

"Hit 'em!" Ash called over the comm as she leapt from her ambush point. She hit the ground and immediately fired at the closest Blue Sun, sending three rounds into the back of his helmet, dropping him. Jacob was next, taking the Blue Sun next to the one Ash had killed, hitting him in the side of the helmet as he turned. Zaeed and Samara remained over the cargo bay, taking advantage of the high ground, providing cover for Tali and Thane as they leapt down and ran into the cargo bay.

Ash and Jacob found cover behind the cargo bay doors, and she heard Shepard's team come up over the rim of the landing pad. She felt a low rumble beneath her feet as Shepard's team opened fire. _That would be EDI,_ she thought, knowing that the Hammerhead would now have rendered the Blue Suns ship immobile on the surface.

Ash focused on taking out the Blue Suns in front of her, when all of a sudden she felt rounds bouncing off her shields from behind. Turning, she saw a sniper on a catwalk in the upper right corner of the bay taking aim at her again. She dove out of the way of his next few rounds, then saw Thane climb the stacks of cargo beneath the catwalk, leap up behind the sniper, and swiftly twist his head almost completely around. He then sprinted down the catwalk, deftly diving below the incoming fire from the other sniper as he tackled him around the knees, before pulling out a small knife that he jammed upwards under the Blue Sun's chin, lodging it deep in his skull. Not wasting a moment, he then leapt from the catwalk, landed next to Tali, who already had pulled off the Ymir's access panel, and started firing out to the pad.

_Thank God he's on our side,_ she thought, turning back to the firefight happening outside.

* * *

><p>"Now!" Shepard pulled himself up and over the lip of the pad, landing heavily. He fired a quick burst at the two nearest Blue Suns, who had already turned towards Ash's team. He crouched in a defensive posture, ready to sprint over to cover behind the one loader, when both Blue Suns he had fired at were dropped by dual shots from Legion and Garrus, who were lying down right at the side of the pad, taking aim at their next targets.<p>

To his right, Grunt immediately charged up his shields and rushed the mercs. "I am KROGAN!" he bellowed, throwing two of the mercs over the edge to the ground far below. So loud was Grunt that he almost didn't feel the rumble beneath his feet signifying that EDI had taken out the one engine. Between Grunt's charging and Legions and Garrus's sniping, the seven Blue Suns had quickly been whittled down to three, who were now taking cover behind the crates on the loaders along with the drivers. Ash's team only had two of their targets remaining, and he could see they had already cleared the cargo bay, though he couldn't tell if Tali had disabled the mech yet. _We'll find out soon enough. _He quickly focused back on the Blue Suns in front of him. They had to get them out from behind the crates

He motioned to Samara, who was still above the opening to the cargo bay. She nodded her understanding, and then let the blue biotic energy course over her body. She began picking up the crates, giving the strike team a clear shot of anyone hiding behind them, then setting them down and moving to the next. Meanwhile, Zaeed was providing cover fire for her, keeping any Blue Suns from firing at her while she worked.

Eventually, only two remained, and Shepard saw them throw their weapons down and put their hands up. "Hold you fire!" His command was simultaneous with Ash's. As the two mercenaries slowly stood up, Kasumi materialized directly in front of them, making them jump back in a panic. She just smiled, and walked back to the rest of the team.

Ash's squad and Shepard's closed in, they motioned for the mercenaries to move closer to the cargo bay. Shepard walked up to them. "How many more are inside the ship?" Neither Blue Sun answered him. With an almost blinding swiftness, Shepard pulled out his pistol and cracked it against the helmet of the mercenary to his right, then pointed it to the other mercenary. "Tell me how many more there are, or both of you are going to be hurting."

"Ok, ok, just don't shoot," the mercenary cried. "There's only four more, the Captain included. We're a small operation."

"I'm assuming this isn't the first time you've done a deal like this."

"We get hired to protect archeological digs, stage a raid to scare of the civilians, and then steal their equipment and findings."

"Where did this cargo come from?"

"I don't know."

Shepard stepped in closer, putting the pistol directly against the faceplate of the mercenary's helmet. "No games. Where is it from?"

"I don't fucking know! It's from a dozen different jobs; no one knows what the hell that crap is! The Gilson had made contact with us, asking for this stuff, so we sold it to them! Mostly, we sell mining lasers, life support equipment, shit like that!"

Shepard looked over to Ash, who nodded. She was fine with his answers. He dropped the weapon, and re-holstered it. "Alright. Should I assume that the other four are holed up inside, waiting for us to attack them?"

"Yeah, unless they're trying to take off."

Ash chuckled lightly. "Yeah, that's not happening. Think we should go in after the rest, Shepard?"

The mercenary cocked his head to the side slightly. "Shepard? As in Commander John Shepard? The guy who took out Purgatory?"

Shepard shared a quick look with Ash. Usually, when someone knew who he was, it ended with trouble. "Yeah, that's me."

The mercenary laughed. "Shit, no wonder you tore through us so fast. Every Blue Sun knows who you are. Since you were able to rescue Archangel on Omega, took out Purgatory, and shut down about a dozen operations, the whole organization's put a bounty on your head."

Shepard eyed him carefully. "You're not going to try to collect, are you?"

Again, the mercenary laughed. "Me? Shit no, I'm just glad I gave up before I ended up like the rest. Trust me, twenty million credits ain't worth dying over."

This time, it was Ash's turn to laugh. "Twenty million? Why, Shepard, if we collected the bounty on you, we could all just retire to a quiet corner of the galaxy and live in luxury for the rest of our lives."

Despite himself, Shepard smiled. "I guess I'm a real pain in the Blue Suns' ass, aren't I?"

This time, the other mercenary responded. "We've been running this scam for three years now, and no one has gotten the drop on us. You cleared us out in under a minute. If they were smart, they'd offer you that money to help us out."

"Thanks, but I have more important things to do then working as a mercenary."

While they were talking, Ash had sent a message off for the Kodiak and Hammerhead to come in to the loading platform as the rest of the team moved all of the crates to the side to make room for the shuttle. As Shepard moved the mercenaries back into the cargo bay, the Kodiak came up from beneath the landing pad and touched down. Grunt, Jacob, and Garrus started loading the crates onto the shuttle, while the others gathered near the door leading from the cargo bay to the interior of the ship. Jacob and Ash were talking while Tali worked on the door panel.

"See what I mean? Vert-93: twelve shots, five kills."

"Only because I damn near broker my ankle jumping off that roof. If I hadn't had to limp over to cover…"

"… you'd still have been shooting with a crappy gun. Face it, I'm right."

"I'll face it when you actually are right, Lieutenant."

Shepard walked over to the two. "Taylor, if there's one thing I've learned since meeting Ash, it's that she's always right."

"She's got you trained well, Commander."

"Damn straight. Twelve shots, five kills… I don't want to piss her off."

This garnered Shepard a punch in the shoulder from his fiancée. Turning his attention to Tali, he asked "how's the door coming?"

"Stupid piece of junk keeps shorting. This is older than some of the ships in the fleet."

"Can you just seal it? Make sure that no one can open the door from the inside?" Ash looked over to Shepard. "If we can't go in, might as well make sure no one can come out."

Tali nodded, thoughtfully. "Sure, I can do that. It'll just take a second."

Before anyone could say anything, she picked up her pistol, jammed it into the open panel, and fired.

"There, done!"

Shepard and Ash looked at each other. Shepard shrugged his shoulders, while Ash just shook her head. "Alright, then. Let's get these loaded and get out of here."

The whole team finished loading the Kodiak and the Hammerhead. They left the two mercenaries tied up in the cargo bay, both thankful to have survived their encounter with Commander Shepard.

* * *

><p>Once they got back to the Normandy, Shepard stopped at his terminal to signal the Alliance to inform them of the disable Blue Sun craft on the surface. He finally made his way up the cabin, where Ash had already started the shower. She was just getting ready to strip off her bodysuit that went under her armor when he walked in. He started slowly shedding pieces of his own armor as he walked towards the bed.<p>

Sighing heavily, he sat on the bed, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose. Ash, noticing him, came and sat beside him.

"What's wrong, John?"

He thought for a moment. Using his first name was her way to let him know she was serious, but still his fiancée, not fellow soldier. And right now, he needed to talk to his fiancée.

"Blue Suns mercs, rogue Cerberus projects, heretic geth… I feel like nothing's changed. We're supposed to be finding a way to stop the reapers, but we're still stuck with little support, and less knowledge of how to do it. I feel like the reapers are going to show up and we'll have no way to fight them."

She put her hand on his shoulder. She felt much the same way. "I know. I'm getting nervous about that too. But the best that we can do right now is keep hitting the targets that our intelligence people tell us are the best options. Don't forget, the improvements you made to the Normandy are being applied to fleets across the galaxy. Not just the Alliance, but the Turian, Salarian, and Asari fleets as well. Pretty soon, every fighting ship will have a thanix cannon installed, and that will give us a fighting chance."

Shepard dropped his hand. She had a point. While they may not have found the reaper's weak spot yet, they certainly had helped preparations to get the fleets into fighting shape.

"Yeah, I guess I should stop beating myself up about it. After all, we do have Liara and all of her contacts looking into it. And Admiral Hackett also has his own research he's doing." He put his hand on Ash's thigh, giving it a squeeze. "You always know how to cheer me up."

She smiled as she leaned into him. "And I didn't even have to resort to sex. I'm getting good at this whole 'talking about our feelings' thing."

Shepard laughed. "Yeah, I guess we both are. Now, we both need to finish getting out of our armor and into the shower."

She laughed as she stood and finished stripping out of her bodysuit. "Oh, I get it. Talk, THEN sex. Most men would say you have your priorities backwards, there, Skipper."

Shepard stood and finished getting his armor and body suit off, and followed Ash into the shower. "Well, Chief, the talk is less exhausting. You once told me you were a hellcat... you were underselling yourself."

As the shower door slid behind closed behind then, Ash wrapped her arms around Shepard's neck. "it's a good thing we have that bench in here, because right now, I can think of only one thing I want under myself."

* * *

><p><strong>I know, bad pun at the end. But hey, that's what happens.<strong>

**Coming up next time: hidden control rooms, dead protheans, and... a good-bye.**


	4. In the Shadows

**Sorry all for the delay, massive things going on in real life, so fanfic kinda got pushed to the side. but never fear, it was never forgotten. **

**Here's the fourth chapter in Rule of Engagement. Also going up today is a new chapter in Convictions. When I started them, I had no idea just how much of a life of their own they'd develop, but here we are now.**

**As part of full disclosure, this was written after ME3 came out.**

**Bioware owns the characters, but they're never own, their FREEDOM! (sorry for the Braveheart reference, I couldn't help it!)**

* * *

><p>Shepard and Ash were working in the CIC. Shepard was at his console, while Ash was leaning up against the railing, going over information on an OSD.<p>

"Ok, Shepard, I give." Ash said. "I've been staring at this duty roster for the better part of an hour, and I can't figure something out…"

Shepard looked up. "What's that?"

"How the hell Miranda keeps this straight. She has notes in here about rotational changes, not scheduling person A on the same shift as person B, time required between shifts… as soon as I find a person to handle a shift, there's one thing or another that disqualifies them. How the hell does anything get done on this ship?"

Shepard smiled. Ash never did like the minutia of being in command, but he knew she was much better at it then she gave herself credit for. "I guess it's all the genetic engineering she went through. She sees patterns in things that I know I can't."

Ash sighed as she put the OSD down. "Well, I guess I'll just have to stumble my way through it. Anyone has a problem, I've have them file a complaint with the personnel department."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at Ash, and quickly got his answer: "Grunt."

He laughed. "I think that's the best job for Grunt that anyone's come up with for some time!"

They both laughed, perhaps a little more than they intended to. They were on their way back to the Citadel, after dropping Miranda and Jack off on Eden Prime. Anderson had informed them that routine maintenance on the Citadel had uncovered a previously unknown area, and he was hoping that the two of them might be able to make some sense of the Prothean technology that they were finding; namely, another beacon.

En route, they had received an urgent message from Liara, asking them to pick her up from her ship. Suddenly very busy, and without their XO, Shepard and Ash were realizing just how invaluable Miranda was.

Fortunately, though, the crew of the Normandy was still working like a well-oiled machine, and aside from the odd misstep every now and then, Ash was proving to be a more than capable administrative assistant. _Though I'd still never hire her as a secretary,_ Shepard chuckled to himself.

"Ash, Shepard? We're about fifteen minutes out from the Shadow Broker's ship." Kelly's voice came from her station. For security's sake, Ash and Shepard had asked that everyone still refer to Liara by her job title, just in case.

"Thanks, Kelly." Ash stretched. "It'll be good for a change of scenery, even if it is just another ship."

"Actually… there might be an issue."

Both Shepard and Ash looked up to the galaxy map as Kelly brought up the image from her terminal. The distinctive white and yellow ships they saw immediately brought Ash and Shepard to full alert.

"What the hell is Cerberus doing here?"

Shepard shook his head. "I don't know. But they're after our friend, and they're not going to get her." Shepard leaned over to the terminal and keyed the comm. "Strike team, gear up, we've got company."

Closing the comm, Shepard looked over to Ash. "Couldn't something go as planned for once?"

Ash smiled as she started for the elevator. "Now where would be the fun in that, Skipper? Come on, let's get ready. It's been far too long since we kicked some Cerberus ass."

Ten minutes later, the assembled strike team stood in the cargo bay. The plan was that the Normandy would dive into the atmosphere to try to take out the seven Cerberus ships harassing Liara's, while the Kodiak would try to land in the shuttle bay to deposit the team.

Ash and Shepard had their teams ready, and were boarding the shuttle when EDI came over their comm units. "Commanders, the time frame on this may have just gotten shorter."

Ash and Shepard exchanged looks. "What's going on, EDI?"

"Sensors indicate a Cerberus capital ship is inbound. Based on its current trajectory and velocity, it should be arriving in orbit within thirty minutes."

Shepard nodded to himself. Of course Cerberus had a capital ship en route, as if they weren't dealing with enough surprises for one day. "Understood EDI. Thanks for the heads up."

As the shuttle took off, Shepard stood in the middle to address everyone. "Alright, everyone, listen up. We have an inbound Cerberus capital ship. ETA is thirty minutes, which means I want everyone back on the Normandy in twenty-five, so we can get the hell out of here. Samara, Thane, and Kasumi, you'll come with me and Ash to get Liara, Feron, and whatever intelligence we can carry. The rest of you will hold the shuttle bay. I'll get a message off to Liara to be ready for us, but we need to expect a lot of resistance. If the Illusive Man found the Shadow Broker's ship, he's going to want to take everything he can."

Just about then, the shuttle shook violently. Ash heard a loud crash from the cockpit, and she and Jacob rushed up to see what had happened. Their shuttle pilot was slumped in his harness, the control panel in front of him shattered and smoking. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened. "Shit, Lewis is hit!"

As Jacob unstrapped the pilot, Ash dove over to the co-pilot's seat, and powered up the secondary control panel. She immediately banked the shuttle hard to the right to avoid an incoming missile.

"Joker," Shepard called over his comm unit, "we need some support here! Lewis is down, Ash has the controls, and we're taking fire!"

"Roger, Commander. I'll give you a clear lane."

Ash saw a shadow come over the shuttle, and looked through the windshield. The Normandy was swooping lower, nearly ramming the Cerberus shuttles; in fact, one bounced off the shields of the frigate, and, losing control, spun off into the storm.

Ash's fingers fairly flew over the controls as she focused on the shuttle bay. The incoming fire and lighting from the storm that Liara's ship was perpetually in buffeted the ship back and forth, but eventually she was able to land the craft, if not gracefully, then safely within the shuttle bay.

Ash leapt from the controls. "Jacob, how's Lewis?"

"He's alive, but barely. He's going into shock. He needs to get to medbay as soon as possible."

Ash looked over to Shepard. Neither was willing to lose a teammate, but they couldn't abandon Liara and Feron. _What a time not to have Jack and Miranda_, Ash thought to herself.

"Change of plans, people. Shuttle's not staying. Jacob, get Lewis back to the Normandy. Kasumi, you go too. Keep Lewis stable until Chakwas gets to him. Ash and I will go and get Liara and Feron, the rest of you will be needed to hold the shuttle bay. We'll take one of Liara's shuttles back to the Normandy."

The team took up defensive positions throughout the shuttle bay, knowing that the Cerberus craft would be back soon. As Jacob and Kasumi took off in the shuttle, Shepard and Ash set off into the ship.

The whole way to the control room was quiet, but now Ash and Shepard could hear weapons behind the sealed doors. They had tried hacking the door, but it was locked tight. Shepard was just about to suggest trying to see if they could find an alternate way in when suddenly, the door hissed open.

Floating there, seemingly oblivious to the gunfire around it, was Liara's assistant. "Hello, Shadow Broker. I was instructed to open the door for y-"

It exploded in a shower of sparks and metal, making Shepard and Ash jump back. Looking into the control room, Shepard saw the main windows had been blown in, and Cerberus troops were swinging in from zip lines, most likely attached to the hull of the ship.

Ash and Shepard immediately went to work prioritizing targets and moving to cover. Before they even got to cover, three troopers had fallen to their fire, though four more had come in through the windows.

Ash looked over to her left, and saw Liara behind one of the several consoles in the room. She was holding her side, her blue blood slowly staining her clothing, though not showing any signs that the wound was slowing her down as she fired with pinpoint accuracy.

She saw Feron on the upper level of the room, trying to make his way to Liara. He was pinned down, but also still able to return fire.

Nodding to Shepard, she readied to run over to Liara. As Shepard threw a grenade, she sprinted to the wounded Asari, the explosion from the grenade giving her the cover she needed.

As she reached her old teammate, Ash pulled out her medkit. "It's always something, isn't it? It can never be 'hey, come on over, we'll watch the game.'"

Liara grimaced as she removed her hand from the wound in her side so Ash could apply the medi gel. "I know you and Shepard like excitement. I hope this lives up to your expectations."

At that moment, the entire ship shook. Ash peeked out from behind the console, and saw a damaged Cerberus shuttle careening away from the ship, obviously having just bounced off the hull. "Sometimes, Liara, a quiet night with a good book can't be beat."

Shepard, meanwhile, was cycling through his weapons as quickly as he could: from his shotgun to deal with the closer enemies, to his sniper rifle to deal with the ones hanging outside the window, it was everything he could do to keep up with the influx of Cerberus troops. "We need to seal these windows!"

Liara shouted back over to him "The controls are to the right!"

Shepard saw the control box, right next to the far right window. Of course, there were eight Cerberus troopers between him and the controls, with more coming in by the minute, so it was going to be a little challenging.

He quickly looked around to see what could be of use. He heard a loud whistle from his left. He looked, and saw Ash was pointing to the sphere of screens that Liara had put together in the middle of the room. Shepard nodded, understanding immediately what Ash intended.

Readying himself, and waiting for Ash to signal that she was ready, he took note of all of the Cerberus troopers he could see, memorizing their location. Ash nodded at him, and gave a quick countdown on her fingers: three, two, one. "NOW!"

Shepard flung a grenade into the screens, detonating it immediately. As the flash faded and the shrapnel fell onto the troopers, Shepard leapt from his cover, and started plowing his way through the troops between him and the controls. Right behind him, Ash was sprinting as well.

Using his heavier armor, Shepard cleared the way, making a path for the more lightly armored Ash behind him. As they reached the controls, Shepard turned, and started laying down fire as Ash closed the windows.

As she hit the button, she heard the distinct _hiss-click_ of each window sealing, except for one. The window closest to them was being blocked by a trooper, holding it open to try to get in.

She ran over, knocking the trooper's rifle out of his hand as he tried to bring it up on her. She swung for his faceplate and connected. Pressing her advantage, she pulled her shotgun from her back and fired it point blank.

She was rewarded with the scream of the trooper as he fell through the sky to the planet far below, before being shut out by the closing of the window.

Turning, she dove for cover, seeing Shepard do the same. With the two of them now on one side of the room and Liara and Feron still on the other side, they were able to create a kill zone in the middle, quickly eliminating the rest of the troops.

Ash and Shepard quickly went back to Liara, finding Feron was already tending to her wound. "I'm no medic, but this should suffice for now," the Drell said.

"Liara, what happened? How did Cerberus find you?"

Liara looked up to Shepard, seeing the concern on his face for her. "I knew it was only a matter of time. Even though I'm the one who recovered your body for them, they're still after the Shadow Broker. I doubt the Illusive Man realizes that we're one and the same."

Ash looked at the mission timer on her HUD. "Regardless, we're running out of time. We gotta get out of here before that capital ship gets here."

Shepard nodded. "You're right." He keyed his comm unit. "Garrus, come in. We have Liara and Feron. Liara's been hit, but we're coming back to the shuttle bay."

"Negative," came the shouted reply. "We're completely outgunned here. We can make it to Liara's shuttle, but they'll just knock it out of the sky with one of the Atlas mechs that they just landed. We need an alternate route."

Shepard looked over to Liara. She thought for a moment. "There's an emergency safe room down near engineering. It has a small, two person escape pod. If we can draw them down there, then launch the pod, I would have to believe that the primary Cerberus forces would pursue that, and give us a chance to get to the shuttle."

Shepard kept his comm open. "Got that Garrus?"

"Yeah, that's a fine plan, but who's going to draw them off?"

Before anyone could say anything, Shepard heard Samara's voice. "Thane and I will."

Shepard looked over to Ash, who shared his surprised expression. "Samara, we're closer to engineering, we'll draw them to us and let you guys secure the shuttle."

"Cerberus is looking for an Asari and a Drell, and we've already heard them report that they have the Shadow Broker in the shuttle bay. They're concentrating their focus on us. This will give you time to get your wounded friend here."

"Besides," this time, it was Thane's voice, "acting as a distraction is not advisable for someone who is already wounded. We will draw them off, and give you a chance to launch."

Shepard looked over to Liara. "Is there any other way off the ship?"

Liara shook her head. "No, only the shuttle bay or the escape pod. The electrical storm outside will make it impossible for Joker to bring the Normandy in close enough for us to climb aboard. My predecessor was quite paranoid."

Shepard didn't like taking chances like this. "Can we bring the shuttle over to engineering to pick Samara and Thane up there? Is there any sort of access there?"

Feron spoke up. "Once the pod is launched, if they can climb out of the port onto the exterior catwalk, there's a small platform. We should be able to pick them up there."

Shepard nodded. "Samara, do you copy that?"

"I do, we will meet you out on the catwalk."

"Alright. Garrus, fall back into the ship, then double back to the shuttle bay to clear out anyone who's left. We'll meet up with you, take the shuttle, and then go get Samara and Thane. Everyone clear on this?"

"Affirmative," came Garrus' reply. Ash and Liara simply nodded. "Alright, let's do it. Samara, you and Thane be careful."

"Will do, Shepard. You as well."

Shepard closed the channel. "Ok, let's get out of here."

"Wait, Shepard, we haven't thought about the information here. If it falls into Cerberus' hands, the Illusive Man will have intel on everyone in the crew, the reapers, the protheans, and not to mention access to the biggest intelligence gathering operation in the galaxy."

Liara smiled wanly. "I've been anticipating this day for quite some time. I've already de-centralized most of the operations to secondary bases, and as long as I have this," she motioned to a briefcase size computer next to her, "then I'll be able to keep up my operations anywhere. As for the intel still here…" Feron pulled out a small device from his jacket with a small screen built into it. "This ship and the information aboard it were never going to fall into the Illusive Man's hands. This responds only to mine or Feron's finger print."

"And what does it do when it responds to your fingerprint?" Ash knew the answer already, but had to make sure.

"The capacitors on the outside of the hull deactivate, and the engines begin to overheat. Between the two, this ship, and anything within a two kilometer radius, is vaporized."

Shepard looked over to Ash with a small smile on his face. "How's that sound?"

Ash just shrugged. "Fine, if big explosions and taking out a whole squad of Cerberus troops is your thing."

Feron strapped the briefcase to his back, and then gently raised Liara up, putting her arm around his shoulders. Shepard and Ash took the point position, making sure their way was clear. For the most part, they didn't encounter any resistance.

However, at an intersection right before they started the straight run to the shuttle bay, they found Samara and Thane taking cover as they lead the Cerberus forces behind them down to engineering. Shepard motioned for everyone to take cover, lest the Cerberus troops see them. Shepard, though, could still see Samara, who was looking directly at him.

Samara nodded to Shepard, then indicated for them to stay hidden. Shepard could only nod back, as Samara then sprang from cover and took off down the hallway, following Thane. Shepard and the others stayed in cover as the mass of soldiers took off down the hallways after their prey.

They waited a moment before moving on down the hallway, Shepard casting a long look after his two teammates. Eventually, they reached the shuttle bay, where Garrus' team was assembled around the smoking wreckage of an Atlas mech. "Samara was right, once we started to fall back, the majority took off after her. When we got back here, there was just a few left for us to mop up. I think the other Atlas is up on the hull, though, we didn't see it when we got back."

"Ok, we'll deal with that when we can. For now, let's get loaded up into the shuttle. I want to be ready to go get Samara and Thane as soon as they're ready."

As the team moved toward the shuttle, Shepard opened a channel to the Normandy. "Joker, how're we looking?"

"Not good, Commander. Capital ship just launched fighters, and they're closing in on your position. ETA is three minutes. I can come get you now and we can avoid all that."

"Negative, we're still waiting on Samara and Thane."

Almost on cue, Samara radioed to Shepard. "We are inside the safe room. Thane is working to eject the pod, but it seems to be stuck. Cerberus is burning through the door. We don't know how much longer we can hold them off."

Shepard looked over to Ash. They both were very aware of the clock right now. Shepard readied his assault rifle. "I'm coming, Samara."

"Negative, Shepard. You must get the rest of the team out. We will get the pod launched, and will meet you on the catwalk, as planned. If we don't get it launched, you must leave us."

Ash looked at Shepard. She nodded once, and then went to the cockpit. Shepard felt the shuttle start to lift from the bay floor. "We'll be there in twenty seconds. Joker, be ready for us."

The shuttle slid out of the docking back, and over to the side of the ship where Feron was indicating. As they skirted the hull, the shuttle was buffeted by lightning strikes, though it was nothing Ash couldn't handle. As they reached the designated spot, Shepard heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the pod fly out in front of them. As hoped, the Cerberus shuttles all scrambled after it, leaving the team in the Kodiak alone, at least for the time being.

As they pulled in close to the catwalk, Shepard opened the door, and Zaeed, Garrus, and Legion immediately took up positions right at the front. As they looked on, Shepard saw Thane climb out of the empty port, then take cover and start to fire back into the safe room.

"Thane, come on!"

The assassin looked back to the shuttle. "Cerberus just broke through the door, Samara is pinned down! Need cover fire!"

Shepard slapped Garrus and Legion both on the shoulders. "Take 'em out!"

Both Garrus and Legion switched over to their sniper rifles, and took aim through the empty port. Shepard could see Samara taking cover behind a control panel, while Cerberus troops poured in through a ragged hole that had been torched through the door. As he looked, Garrus fired, dropping one trooper, then Legion fired, dropping another. The two of them kept a steady stream up, giving Samara time to get up and run toward the port.

Just as she was climbing through the gap, a grenade detonated within the safe room. The force tossed Samara against the side back first, before depositing her onto the catwalk near Thane. Shepard could see the explosion itself hadn't harmed her too much, but as Thane reached her and pulled her further to safety, he noticed that there was something wrong.

Shepard hastily keyed his comm unit. "Thane, how is she?"

"I fear her back is broken. She cannot move her legs."

Shepard looked around the shuttle. Before he could finish his plan on how to get Samara aboard, he heard her voice over his comm. "Shepard, you must leave me."

He looked back over. "No one gets left behind, Samara. Hold tight for a moment, we'll get you."

"No, Shepard." The calm, almost serene tone in her voice felt totally surreal to Shepard. "We have no more time to waste. You must get the rest of the team out of here while you still can."

Before he could say anything, he saw Samara pick Thane up in a biotic field, and push him from the catwalk to the inside of the Kodiak. After he was aboard, she released him, letting him gently down, as she sunk back to the metal grating beneath her.

"They think I am the Shadow Broker. If I get aboard, every fighter and shuttle will chase you. I can buy you time to get out of here. Besides, I am broken. It is best if I am allowed to, as you humans say, 'go out with a bang,' instead of spending the rest of my days as a cripple."

Shepard felt his insides go cold. He knew she was right. They could take the time needed to get her on the shuttle without hurting her further, but then they'd be swarmed with Cerberus fighters, and dealing with the Capital ship. While he knew that the Normandy could take the ship, the virtually unarmed Kodiak could easily be shot out of the sky by the fighters.

_This is a war, there will always be casualties. _That thought did nothing to make the decision any easier, but it put him in motion. "Ashley, take us out."

As the Kodiak moved away from the ship, Shepard made sure to keep Samara in his line of vision for as long as he could. He saw the Cerberus troops begin to pour out of the port, and Samara raised a biotic barrier, while pulling her SMG out.

Eventually, though, Ash had to bank away from the ship. Shepard thought he saw Samara's barrier fall, but couldn't be sure. Feeling totally empty, Shepard sat down next to Liara. He could feel the unease in her, and knew what she was trying to bring herself to tell him. He spared her the effort. "Liara… do it."

With a sad nod, Liara took the detonator out of her jacket pocket. With a deep sigh, she placed her thumb over the screen.

In the cockpit, Ash heard Shepard's simple order to Liara. She saw they were outside of the blast radius, but fortunately, the Cerberus ships were not. In fact, the fighters had just come up along Liara's ship, getting ready to pursue the Kodiak, when Ash saw the first explosion start. After only a moment, the entire ship seemed to crack apart, before being engulfed in flames.

With a grim satisfaction, she saw that all but one of the Cerberus ships were caught in the explosion, and the remaining one, a fighter, was too damaged to be able to follow them. It broke off its pursuit, and fell back to where its ship was.

Remembering that they still had a Capital ship in bound, Ash focused back on getting to the Normandy. As they cleared the atmosphere, she saw it turning. Joker brought the ship behind the Kodiak, and used the Normandy's greater speed and momentum to catch the shuttle in the cargo bay, neatly swallowing up the smaller vessel as he charted a course out of the system.

As the Kodiak settled in the cargo bay, and Ash powered down the engines, she noticed the unearthly quiet in the shuttle. As she climbed out of the cockpit, she saw everyone still sitting in their seats, not looking at each other.

After a long moment, Shepard stood. He popped the door open, and stood to the side. "Come on, people. We need to get to the Citadel."

As the team slowly filed out of the shuttle, Ash came to stand next to Shepard. "She gave her life so that we could escape. It's a death that any justicar would be proud of."

Shepard couldn't look Ash in the eye. "I know. But she was still a friend. And it's still hard to see a friend die."

As Shepard stepped down into the cargo bay, Ash could barely hear what he said next: "And it's even harder to know you could have done more to stop it."

Before she could say anything, though, he was walking swiftly to the elevator, leaving her alone in the cargo bay.

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><p><strong>Coming up next time, a trip to the Citadel, a new beacon, and a madman tries to commit genocide...<strong>


	5. Planetfall

**Dear Lord has it been quite a long time since I updated anything! I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long, but recent real-life changes have taken my focus and attention. But I promise all of my active stories will be finished! And I have new ones! Shiny, pretty new ones! Thank you to everyone who's stuck around, and welcome to the new people I may have roped into reading! **

**This chapter was actually why this story hasn't been completed yet. Everything up until the pick-up with my normal narrative style was written in the past week, whereas almost EVERYTHING after it (including the rest of the story!) was written before ME3 came out. As always, I'll note what was written after, just to keep everything fair.**

**Also, like always, I don't own the characters. I need to talk to Mastercard about extending my limit so I can change that...**

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><p>To: Admiral Hackett, 2nd Fleet<p>

Admiral,

I wanted to send you a report on the events of the past few weeks before I forget to. I apologize, I didn't mean to take this long before updating you, but I hope you can understand the hectic scheduled we've been leading lately.

After we picked up Liara and Feron, we made our way to the Citadel, as you're aware. After meeting with Ambassador Anderson, we made our way down to the Presidium Commons, and the entrance of the newly found facility there. We met with Sargent Bailey, from Citadel Security, as well as the head of the repair crew that found it, a Salarian named Cordit. After being lead through several corridors, we found ourselves in what appeared to be a secondary Operations center. Screens and control panels were all over the place, but most noticeable was the beacon standing in the center of the room. Cordit told us that they had found residual organic material in the room, so it looks like the Prometheans that had escaped Ilos found their final resting place here.

The beacon itself looked… odd. It looks as if the Prometheans had constructed it out of spare parts. When I got in range of it, the experience… was different than the beacons before. It was more jarring, much more unsettling. Even worse, I couldn't understand it. I'm hopeful that I'll eventually be able to make sense of it, but even Liara couldn't help me sort it out. Worst case scenario is that when it was built, the Prometheans weren't able to program it properly, leading to the deterioration of the data. Best case, it'll just take time. Of course, we're hoping for the latter.

In the meantime, we just picked Miranda and Jack up from Eden Prime, it seems that they had a run in with Miranda's father, Henry Lawson. Without getting into details, we can count on Lawson Industries, and it's new CEO, Miranda Lawson, for their total support and resources in fighting the Reapers.

We're on our way to Rannoch now. Tali received a message that a Quarian by the name of Kavaras is trying to incite a war between the Quarians and the Geth. It seems the ceasefire that was setup by Tali and Legion was leading towards the Quarians resettling Rannoch, but some extremists, like Kavaras, won't accept coexisting with the Geth. He's promised a "final solution to the Geth problem." Chilling words, especially for anyone who's studied 20th Century Earth history.

As soon as I can make sense of the beacon's images, I'll send an update. In the meantime, wish us luck in settling the Geth/Quarian conflict once and for all.

- Shepard.

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><p>Streaming data feed: Alliance priority channel<p>

Live Mission Report: Rannoch

To: Admiral Hackett (2nd fleet), Ambassador Anderson (Citadel)

Admiral, Commanders Shepard and Williams asked that I keep a live mission report going while they're on the planet's surface. With the massive implications of this operation, they wanted to make sure that both of you and the Council were kept informed about the events, as they certainly can have ramifications for everyone concerned.

To update, the Commanders took their strike teams to the planet's surface. Commander Shepard took Garrus, Jack, Thane, Grunt, and Tali while Commander Williams had Jacob, Liara, Zaeed, Kasumi, Legion, and Jacob. Once the teams arrived on the surface, they met with the Quarian Admiralty and representatives of the Geth. They had intel that Kavaras had setup camp in a box canyon three kilometers to the west. It was decided for Shepard's team and Ashley's team to split up and attack from each side of the canyon.

At the moment, teams are en route. Local time is 2110 hrs, updates will follow every 5 local minutes.

-Miranda Lawson.

Update: local time 2115 hrs

Teams are reporting ETA to staging areas is 30 seconds.

Update: local time 2120 hrs.

Both teams reporting light resistance, though they are making steady progress.

Update: 2125

Cmdr Shepard's team has reported heavy resistance, including modified Atlas mechs. Williams's team also reporting heavier resistance, though no heavier units. Note: will have to investigate mech's presence, Quarian commanders state they do not have that technology.

Update: 2130

Cmdr Williams's team reports breaking through enemy line, sweeping around canyon to support Shepard's team, who reports still stalled due to additional heavy units.

Update: 2135

Both teams engaging heavy units.

Update: 2140

Geth intercepted transmission from insurgent base in canyon. Kavaras transmitting to his other followers. Teams re-evaluating attack strategy.

Update: 2145

Kavaras's message was in code, Geth are working on decrypting. Geth around cauldron of canyon reporting mass desertion of local Quarian forces. Shepard has asked Legion to coordinate Geth troops and for Tali to look into missing Quarians, both on their way back to original rendezvous point.

Update: 2150

After further recon of canyon, Cmdrs Shepard and Williams have decided to proceed together, as both ways lead to one single path to canyon end. Normandy has mapped area, large structure at end of canyon. Due to magnetic interference, high-res imaging unavailable, but massive energy reading detected.

Update: 2155

Ground team reporting contact with enemy at structure. Initial reports suggest small camp, but structure's nature not obvious. Cmdr Williams reports Kavaras already dead, rest of his followers mounting fierce opposition.

Update: 2200

Ground team reports 2 modified Atlas mechs engaging. Legion and Tali reporting contact made with Geth/Quarian local leadership at initial rendezvous, total of 20 missing Quarian staff. Tali reports three missing land cruisers, probable missing Quarians

Update: 2205

Mechs reported as neutralized, three contacts remaining. Cmdr Shepard suspects Kavaras martyred himself, as he did not take any cover when initiating firefight with ground team. Will provide further updates once nature of device investigated, or per further request.

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><p>As the last Quarian fell, the team was finally able to approach the device. Liara walked over to the terminal next to it, and after a moment, Shepard saw her tense. "It's an EMP bomb!"<p>

Shepard and Ash shot each other a quick look. "That's what Kavaras meant when he said he had a solution to the geth problem. He intended to use this to send out a shockwave to permanently deactivate the geth."

"How big of a blast are we looking at, Liara?" Shepard eyed the bomb warily.

"It looks like this is setup so that there would be no physical blast, it would send a pulse that would render any active electronic devices useless, no matter how shielded they are."

"Over how large of an area would this bomb cover?"

Liara spent a moment pulling up the data on the terminal. "Dear goddess . From what I can tell… … a quarter of the hemisphere. There have to be more of these hidden away." Shepard saw Liara's face turn to stone, and she paled. "It's on a timer. Thirty seconds."

Immediately Shepard sprang into action. "Everyone, turn everything off! Your shields, armor, comm units, weapons, all of it!" Keying his own comm, he began shutting down his own equipment. "Legion, there's an EMP bomb down here! Power down all of your units!" Not waiting for an answer,

Shepard keyed his comm again. "Shepard to Normandy, we got an EMP bomb down here about to go off! Clear the sky, we'll try to get a signal out to you when we can!"

Shepard was already powering his comm off, cutting off Miranda's frantic reply. "Shepard, wait! Your cybernetics…"

Across the platform, Ash felt herself go ice cold. She flashed to what Miranda had told her about when Cerberus had rebuilt Shepard, how whatever they couldn't repair or clone, they had to manufacture.

"Wait, what did she say?"

Suddenly, the device let out a low tone, then emitted a sound not unlike a jet engine warming up, until a loud, low thud escaped. The computer screens around the device all started shutting down, and Ash could only look on in horror as Shepard fell lifeless to the floor.

"JOHN!"

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><p><strong>Seriously, no one thought to bring down Shepard with an EMP pulse before? <strong>

**Stay tuned for old friends, new problems... and nightmares...**

***All reviews, negative and/or positivce, are insanely welcome! Thank you!**


	6. Officer Down

**Hello everyone! The next few chapters were written well before ME3 came out (which tells you how long I've been working on this, and how bad I am at updating!). I apologize for the infrequent and random updates, in between planning for a baby, working full time, trying to start my own company, and also working on my own original book, something had to give a bit. But I will never forget this, so no worries!**

**Also, for everyone who follows this story, please see an announcement below.**

**As always, Bioware owns the characters, but I own their souls... muhahaha!**

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><p>"Check his vitals!"<p>

"I got a weak pulse!"

"He's not breathing!"

"Get this armor off, now!"

"Someone radio the Normandy, we need to get him to medbay now!"

The team swarmed around Shepard as he lay on the floor. Their motions and words were all becoming a blur as they sought to revive him after the seemingly harmless EMP bomb had sent him crumbling to the floor. As Garrus stripped Shepard's armor off, Ash immediately started CPR, trying to keep his heart going and get air into his lungs. Liara, meanwhile, had powered her comm back up, and was receiving a message from the Normandy.

"… und team, come in ground team! Kodiak inbound to your position, Chakwas is on board with a crash kit, please adivse!" Miranda's voice was in control, but they could all here the panic behind it. Not stopping in trying to bring her fiance' back, Ash yelled to be heard over Liara's comm. "Make sure she gets down her fast! We have a pulse, but he's not breathing!"

The pilot of the Kodiak came over the comm. "ETA two minutes, full burn into your location. Keep transmitting so we can keep a lock on your position."

"Liara, give them a status report." Ash wanted to focus all of her efforts on Shepard to try to keep him alive until the doctor could land. As Liara gave a report of everything that had happened, Ash felt the panic rise in her throat as the seconds ticked by without a response from Shepard. _Don't you dare do this to me!_

After what felt like an eternity, she heard the Kodiak's engines as is descended to the platform. It landed just a few yards away, and before she knew it, Doctor Chakwas was next to her, gently pushing everyone out of the way so she could get in.

Ash saw that Chakwas had a mobile respirator with her. She couldn't help but shiver as the doctor threaded a tube up Shepard's nostril, pushing it in further and further until she nodded to herself. "I'm in the lungs, starting artificial respiration." She pressed a button on the side of the machine, and Ash saw Shepard's chest start to rise and fall. "I need to get him back to the ship to do a complete check on him." Garrus brought over a stretcher from the shuttle, and he and Grunt gently placed Shepard on it before carrying him over.

"Ash…" She turned to see Jacob and Liara standing near her. "Go with him. The four of us can take things from here. We'll report in to Miranda after we check on the geth."

Ash shook her head. "No, I need to stay. I have a job to do…"

Liara stepped forward "You need to go with him. Yes, you have a duty as a Spectre, but you also have a duty to him. Go. We can handle this."

She felt Garrus put his hand on her shoulder. "They're right. Nothing more you can do down here. He'll need you to wake up to, anyways. Unless you'd rather he wake up to MY beautiful face."

Ash nodded. "Ok… thanks." She ran over to the shuttle. Taking one last look at her team, she sat on the seat, reaching over to hold Shepard's hand. Without looking away from him, she spoke to the doctor. "Any thoughts?"

Doctor Chakwas sighed. "Until I get more data about how he was rebuilt by Cerberus, I won't even know what's been shut down by the EMP. For now, his heart is beating and he's getting oxygen, so let's focus on that."

Ash nodded, choking back any response. She had to admit to herself that it looked grim. _No, stop it, we'll figure this out._ All she could do for now was wait until they got back to the ship, so Doctor Chakwas could run more tests. _Please God, _she prayed silently, _let him be ok. I don't think I can lose him again._

They soon arrived in the cargo bay of the Normandy. As the doors to the Kodiak opened, Ash noticed that Kelly and Miranda were both there, along with several crew members. "I've already keyed up all of the files regarding Shepard's reconstruction in your computer, Doctor." Ash was thankful that Miranda seemed to have already expected this, and had already taken steps to prepare.

The crew members took the stretcher, and carefully took Shepard from the Kodiak towards the elevator. Ash stayed right by his side, still holding his hand. "Miranda, what do you think happened? What cybernetics are we talking about here?"

Miranda walked with them, as Kelly stayed back a little. "He has dozens of cybernetic implants throughout his body. The servos in a few of his joints would be low priority. The main concern would be his lungs and…" Miranda caught herself, stealing a glance to Ash, "… his brain."

Ash looked up to Miranda, panic racing across her face. "His brain?"

Miranda looked as if she didn't want to explain, but she did anyway. "Parts of his neural network had to be replaced with micro circuitry. That in itself isn't an issue, but it was done without any brain activity. Once we had restarted his brain…"

Doctor Chakwas finished for her. "… they acted as a microchip, with electricity from his synapses racing across them. The EMP would have damaged them."

Ash looked to Miranda. "What parts are we talking about?"

The doors to the elevator opened, and they rushed into medbay. As the crew members lifted Shepard off of the stretcher onto the bed, Ash finally released Shepard's hand and walked directly up to Miranda. "What parts are we talking about?"

Miranda couldn't look her in the eye. "I'm… not sure. But they were related to… higher functions. All of the reports are there, all of the information from Lazarus, but…" Miranda finally looked Ash in the eye, and Ash could see the frustration, the sense of failure that was coursing through the former Cerberus operative. "I'm an administrator, not a neurosurgeon. The reason I never gave you or Shepard the details is that I don't know all the details. I ran the project, and had an overview of everything that was happening, but I couldn't tell you the minute details. I'm sorry."

Ash took a step back. "I understand. I'm sorry I bit your head off. But we need to do something!"

Doctor Chakwas looked at the two women. "May I make a suggestion?" Both Ash and Miranda looked over to the doctor, who took a moment before she continued. "Right now, I need time to run tests and go over the data from Lazarus. I won't know anything until I know what's wrong, and why it's wrong. Once we know that, we'll know how to fix it. For now, take some time to calm yourselves. There are still people on the surface that need help."

Miranda nodded. "You're right, Doctor. I'll get a message off t some of my contacts to see if anyone can get me more information on this type of situation. In the meantime, I should get back up to the CIC to monitor the situation on the surface."

"Good. You get back to work. Ashley…" before she could finish, Ash interrupted her. "I'm staying right here."

Doctor Chakwas smiled. She would assume nothing less than that from the young Lieutenant Commander."I know. But at least go, get cleaned up, and come back in something more comfortable than your armor. You'll be my assistant for my tests." Chakwas hoped that Ash didn't see through the thin ruse. There wouldn't be much testing going on, as she would have to try to find, in the mountains of data and reports that Miranda had supplied something that could be used to help Shepard. But she knew she would have to keep Ash occupied and active, otherwise she wouldn't be of much use to anyone.

Thankfully, Ash nodded. "Ok, I guess I can't do much right now." As both Miranda and Ash walked out of med bay, Chakwas sighed as she sat in front of her computer terminal. It was times like this that she wished Mordin hadn't left the ship when they stopped at Tuchunka, though she knew he left to try to find a cure for the genophage. He had had a major breakthrough while working aboard the Normandy, and been in a hurry to see if it worked.

Doctor Chakwas settled in for a long night.

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><p>It was several hours later. Miranda stood at Shepard and Ash's terminal in the CIC, finishing the report on the day's mission. Fortunately, Legion had been able to get the geth to power down before the EMP went off, and the remaining ground team was able to reactivate them. The true concern had been the quarians on the surface, as their containment suits had failed with the EMP, including their breather units.<p>

It was this potential crisis that had shown the possibility for hope for the future. Without hesitation, every geth had come up to a quarian, and patched themselves into the environment suits, using their power supplies to keep the quarians alive until the damaged suits could be repaired.

Overall, the mission had been a success, save one glaring point: Shepard. The EMP bomb that had gone off had taken out the cybernetic enhancements that Cerberus has used to help bring him back, and they weren't sure how to repair the damage that had been done.

Currently, Doctor Chakwas was going over the reports from Project Lazarus that Miranda had given her, trying to see if she could find anything that she could use to help bring the Commander back. Everyone else, it seemed, was waiting for any news.

So lost in her thoughts was she, Miranda had barely heard the elevator doors open. Ash came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making Miranda jump.

"Oh, Ash, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

Ash smiled weakly. "Miranda, Kelly, can I see both of you in the briefing room?"

Miranda looked over to Kelly, who clearly had been surprised to be included. Not waiting for an answer, Ash started making her way through the armory to the briefing room, with her XO and yeoman trailing behind.

As the three women entered the briefing room, Ash spoke. "EDI, can you bring up the file?"

The light dimmer slightly as the holoemitters turned on. Over the table in the middle of the room, a dossier appeared. The picture of a tired-looking human male, slightly past middle age, was in the forefront.

"Miranda, do you remember this man?"

Miranda looked from the picture to the name on the dossier. "Yes, Doctor Carmen Rosetti. He was one of the leads on Project Lazarus. His focus was the respiratory system. Not only was he a genius, he was also the biggest proponent of cloning the needed organs and tissue, rather than using synthetics. If it weren't for him, I'd imagine Shepard would be much worse off than he is now."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

Miranda looked over to Ash. "From what I remember, he was still at the facility when we came under assault. My priority was to get Shepard out, so I just assumed he had been killed."

Ash shook her head. "He escaped. While Doctor Chakwas was going through the files, I started searching for the people listed, to see if we could get any contacts. He came up. It looks like he's been publishing some papers loosely based on the work done at Project Lazarus."

Miranda's eyes widened slightly. "I knew he was an idealist, but that's damn near suicidal."

"Why?" Kelly almost felt stupid asking the question.

"Because Cerberus has a fanatic jealously regarding its secrets. And anyone who goes and reveals those secrets would have a target the size of an elkor painted on their backs."

Ash nodded grimly. "I found the kill order. We don't have much time to get to him. We were able to trace him to Omega. He's working with Mordin's former assistant. I've already told Joker to lay in a course. I'm not taking any risks in get Rosetti, and we get out, before anyone tries to collect the bounties on us, or Rosetti. The mercenary population of Omega is still pissed at Shepard and Garrus, so seeing us might get them worked up."

Kelly and Miranda both nodded, knowing that any trip to Omega could be trouble. Both women got ready to leave the briefing room.

Ash, though, clearly had something else she needed to say, though she didn't want to. As the lights came up, she took a step forward. "Look, I… am going to need some help. With John… in his condition, I know I'm going to have a hard time focusing. As much as I trust the others, you two… well, you've become like sisters to me."

Ash saw both the slight flush creep across Kelly's cheeks, and how Miranda's stance relaxed ever so slightly.

"We don't know what can be done for Shepard. I know we'll do what we can, but we are also going to have to continue with our primary mission as well. This is where I need you guys the most."

Ash took a deep breath. "I'm going to try to be as professional as possible, but… I may, at some point, need to be reminded of our job to stop the reapers. I feel that if someone on the strike team confronts me about it, I might not be responsive, but if one of you tells me…"

Miranda and Kelly looked to each other. "Anything you need, Ash. We're here."

Ash let a wan smile though. "Thanks, Kelly."

Ash took another breath. She felt as though she was going to fall to pieces, but she had to keep herself together; if not for her own sake, for her crew's.

Collecting herself, she motioned that they should leave the briefing room. "Come on. Let's get to Omega and get John fixed up."

As they walked back to the CIC, Ash forced herself to think positively. _We'll get this doctor, and get John better. I won't let him down._

* * *

><p><strong>I just have to say, "I'm an administrator, not a neurosurgeon" is my favourite line in the whole story. <strong>

**And so, for my announcement. Originally, this would be ending at the end of the Reaper invasion. Well, I've come to realize that the characters still have more that they're telling me they want to do, so... this will keep going indefinitely. As long as the characters telling me what they're doing, I'll keep writing it all out. Ultimately, though, I don't know if I should keep it all under Rules of engagement, as future chapters will explain, but for now, I'll keep it all here.**

**As always, reviews/comments/critiques/offers of loads of money all accepted and encouraged! Thanks!**


	7. Omega

**Once again, I find myself begging forgiveness for being away too long. I'll try to keep posting what I have every few days until this main story is completed, and I'll keep this going from there when I can, so no more promises until the Reapers are dead... or they win... or whatever happens in the story. So there.**

**As always, Bioware owns the characters, but I'm trying to see if I can get their souls second hand...**

**Also, as part of my full disclosure, part 1 of this was done pre-ME3, part 2 was done about two months ago.**

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><p>Ash was looking for a fight, and she couldn't think of a better place to find one than Omega. It just so happened that some of the data Miranda had pointed them in the direction of the pirate space station, and a former Cerberus operative that had worked on Project Lazarus. Ash had prepared the whole strike team, not wanting to take any chances. She knew that the multiple mercenary organizations would be lurking around, and if they heard that Shepard's team was back on Omega, some might try to cash in on the multiple bounties on them.<p>

At the same time, Ash knew that, to avoid any further trouble, they would have to pay a visit to Aria T'Loak, the de facto ruler of Omega, and tell her what they were doing. Of course, she wasn't going to run the risk of Aria saying no, so she had already dispatched Thane, Grunt, Liara, Garrus, and Jacob to track down the operative, while she took Zaeed, Jack, and Miranda with her to meet Aria. She normally would have just taken Miranda, since she had previously met with Aria when Shepard was hunting the collectors, but she wanted the added firepower Zaeed and Jack brought, just in case.

As the four of them made their way through the crowded floor of Afterlife, Ash took note of the security. From what Miranda had told her, it looked like Aria had recently upped the number of armed guards in the club, and she even noticed two snipers hiding in alcoves in the upper reaches of the club.

As they reached the back of the club, Ash was stopped by the pair of guards. When they asked who they were, she only replied "Friends of Shepard's, who need a favor." The one guard went to talk to Aria, and Ash could tell the other was hoping that he would get the order to remove the four humans.

After only a moment, the first guard came back down. "Go on up." Ash led the way, and stopped when she was directly in front of Aria. The asari was regarding them with a look bordering between contempt and intrigue. Ash assumed the large krogan standing next to her would be the Patriarch, an assumption that was confirmed when Aria first spoke.

"Patriarch, I have a riddle for you. What is a group of armed humans on Omega called?"

The Patriarch looked Ash and the others. "Usually, dead. But in this case, I'd say trouble."

Aria nodded slowly. "Yes, trouble. I granted you an audience because you mentioned Shepard. I like him. He's a warrior, and doesn't bother with any type of pretense. He's also a man of his word, which is rare… and dangerous. If you're truly friends of Shepard, I would expect you to be the same."

She looked at Miranda. "I remember you. You were with him when he first came here. You reeked of Cerberus then, but not anymore… interesting."

_This is getting old. _Ash decided it was time to end Aria's gloating. "We're here because we need to take someone from your station. As a matter of courtesy, we wanted to brief you."

"Ah, you wanted to tell me that you were going to cause trouble on my station. How kind of you." Aria sneered at Ash. "Tell me, who are you taking?"

"A scientist. He used to work for Cerberus, and he has intel that we need."

"And why do you need this man? What information does he have? If you want me to condone you taking action on my station, you'll have to give me more information than that."

Ash clenched her jaw. She didn't want to give Aria any more information than she had to. Feeling Miranda's hand on her shoulder, she relaxed_._ "He was involved in the project that brought Shepard back after he was killed in action. We need some of that information again."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "Has something happened to Shepard? A shame, truly, and such a waste of great material, but how many times can one person be resurrected? Perhaps it's his time. Perhaps you should let the man die."

The words had barely left Aria's mouth when Ash pulled her pistol and pointed it directly between the asari's eyes. Immediately, every guard surrounding them drew their weapons, while Miranda and Zaeed drew theirs. Jack's body glowed with blue lightening as she readied her biotics.

Everyone stood still for a moment. No one moved or breathed. It was the Patriarch who broke the tension by laughing. "Haha, remember the last time someone pulled a gun on you, Aria?"

Collecting herself, Aria stood. "Yes. It was you, and we destroyed half of this club." She regarded Ash for a moment, then motioned to her guards to lower their weapons, though none of them put their guns back in their holsters. Miranda and Zaeed also lowered their weapons, while Jack powered herself down. Only Ash kept her gun out, still pointing at Aria. Aria slowly walked down the few steps towards Ash.

"Well, that's a mystery solved. Now I know how you are. You're Shepard's mate. Nice to meet you. But before I give you any sort of answer, I need to know something: How far are you willing to go for him? I assume that you already sent a team to collect your target, but you have yet to walk out of this club. I could order my men to kill all four of you where you stand, and you'd never see your beloved again."

Aria was now directly in front of Ash, and moved forward until the barrel of Ash's gun was pressed against her own forehead. "What if I told you that you could only take this man off of my station over my dead body?"

Without any sort of hesitation, Ash cocked her pistol, which brought up the weapons of the guards. Ash didn't fire though, just stared a hole through

Aria. After what seemed like forever, Aria smiled, and stepped back. "Good. A woman who's willing to do anything. I like that. You have my blessing to do whatever you must while here on Omega."

Ash finally lowered her gun and holstered it, and the guards followed suit. "I promise we'll keep any disruption to a minimum."

Aria laughed as she sat back down. "Please, if you're anything like Shepard, your idea of 'minimum' is only leveling a whole warehouse, nearly wiping out three groups of mercenaries, as well as entering a plague zone and uncovering a plot by the vorcha to start a species riot. The word 'subtle' isn't in his vocabulary."

Ash let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, that's Shepard."

Aria regarded Ash for a moment, and then motioned to the seat just to the side of her. Ash, not wanting to offend Aria, walked up the steps and took a seat. The Patriarch stood to the other side of Aria, though he turned so he could be part of the conversation as well.

"So tell me," Aria began, "what exactly happened to Shepard?"

Ash took a deep breath. "We were standing next to an EMP bomb when it went off. He had a lot of cybernetic parts from when he was rebuilt by Cerberus, and he went down. We… don't really know if he'll make it yet."

Aria nodded once, her face an impassive mask. The Patriarch, similarly, didn't let any emotion show on his face. "He is a great krantt," he said simply.

"He did a lot for this station. While his rescue of Archangel could've been handled a little more discreetly, he's responsible for keeping the stability of this station intact. He's even become a bit like your boogeyman, 'don't steal or Shepard and Archangel will get you!'"

Aria looked over to Ash, and Ash saw a glimmer of emotion through Aria's cool mask. "I don't say this lightly, but if there is any way I can repay the debt I owe him, you tell me. I have more resources than you suspect."

"Thank you, Ms T'Loak." The title garnered a laugh from Aria.

"Please, you were just holding a gun to my head. I think we're beyond niceties."

Ash smiled. _She has a point there._ "Thanks, Aria. But I should be getting back to the ship."

Aria's face slipped back into the look of cool detachment she normally wore. "I understand. Feel free to come by to visit anytime. And I'll see if I can throw some of my men into looking into what can be done for your Commander."

Ash nodded in thanks as she stood. Without another word, Ash walked down the steps to her team, and led them back out through Afterlife.

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Zaeed said as soon as they were out of earshot, "that someone, much less a lass less than half my age, pulled a gun on Aria T'Loak, Pirate Queen of Omega, and lived to tell about it."

"Oh ye of little faith, Zaeed." Miranda looked over to the mercenary. "After all this time, you still haven't learned the single most important rule of the galaxy?"

Both Zaeed and Jack looked over at Miranda. "Ok, what rule is that?" Jack asked her lover.

Smirking slightly, Miranda looked over to Ash, who was walking a full three strides ahead of the rest of them, not acknowledging anything around her. "Simple: God help anyone, or anything, that gets between a Shepard and their goals."

* * *

><p>As Ash, Miranda, Jack, and Zaeed boarded the Normandy, they were greeted by Kelly, who walked with them back to the CIC.<p>

"The other team got back just a few minutes ago with the Doctor. I brought him down the Medbay as soon as he came on board."

Ash nodded. "Good. How's his condition?"

"He's fine; he didn't even know there was a Cerberus hit squad after him."

Miranda chimed in at this point. "Most people don't, until they're dead."

"Anyone hurt on our end?"

Kelly shook her head. "Nothing but the normal scrapes and scratches."

Ash nodded. _Good, we don't need anyone else getting hurt._ "How's our guest seem?"

"Honestly, I was surprised. He's excited to be able to help Shepard again, and thankful that he was saved from the hit squad."

By this time, they had reached the elevator. "Alright, everyone, get changed out of your gear and relax. I'll go and greet our guest."

Miranda stepped forward. "I'm going with you. He'll remember me, and it might help to have a familiar face."

Ash nodded. "Thanks. We'll meet in med bay in ten minutes; I need to get out of this armor."

Ash walked into the elevator, leaving Miranda, Jack, and Kelly in the CIC. Zaeed had already stalked away back to his quarters.

"Do you really think this Doctor Rosetti will be able to help Shepard?" Kelly looked worried as she asked what they were all thinking.

Miranda didn't hesitate in her response. "He was one of the most enthusiastic people on the project. He'll do everything he can, I'm sure of it."

Ten minutes later, Ash stepped out of the elevator onto the crew deck as Miranda was coming out of her and Jack's quarters. The two women nodded to each other as they walked to medbay to greet Doctor Rosetti. "Are you ready for this, Ash?"

Ash looked at Miranda quizzically. "Ready for what?"

Miranda smiled. "The good doctor can be… unique."

Any further discussion was lost as the door to med bay slid open. Inside, Doctor Chakwas and their guest, Doctor Carmen Rosetti, stood over Shepard. They both looked up as Ash and Miranda walked in. Rosetti's face immediately lit up as he saw Miranda.

"Ah, Miss Lawson! Good to see you again! Still trying to put control chips in Shepard's head?"

Ash shot a startled look over to Miranda, as the other only grimaced. "One of the few times I've been wrong. Doctor Carmen Rosetti, I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams."

Rosetti shuffled over to Ash, and gripped her outstretched hand in a vice grip. "Williams… I know it's a common name, but any relation to…"

"My grandfather, yes." Ash interrupted him with a pleasant, if rehearsed, smile.

"Ah, yes, I thought so. You have his eyes. Good man, good head on his shoulders. Always looked at the bigger picture, rather than dwelling on the details."

"You knew him?" Ash was genuinely surprised.

"Not really. Knew of him. I knew a lot of the people who served under him. While the Alliance may have thrown him under the bus, they didn't. Need more people like him in the galaxy."

Ash smiled. "Thanks, Doctor…"

"Please, call me Carmen. It's been decades since I've seen a patient, and formalities are reserved for people who don't have work to do. Which, in looking at the situation here, doesn't include us."

Ash felt a coldness rush through her veins. As the four of them walked back over to the bed where Shepard lay, she forced herself not to look at his face: the sight of the tubes running through his nostrils, and the breathing mask over his mouth made her nauseous.

"So, Carmen, do you think you can help us?"

Rosetti looked over the readings on the screen above the bed. "Well, the simple answer is yes. When he was rebuilt, we had issues in cloning the lungs. Never came out right. We could make them, but they wouldn't work. So we had to use cybernetics. Stupid things, I never liked them to begin with."

Rosetti looked up to Miranda. "I wish we had never had to use any of those cybernetic pieces of crap. So much of the team was focused on the fun stuff, like muscles and eyes, who was working on how to make all of those things actually work? Me. If you can't get oxygen into the blood, the blood can't pump to the newly manufactured eyes. Everyone overlooks the simple miracle that breathing is…"

Ash gently interrupted. "Why couldn't you get the cloned lungs to work? What was wrong with them?"

Rosetti shrugged. "I don't know. We cloned it off of the DNA we had, and they just never functioned properly."

Chakwas took an OSD from the table next to Shepard's bed, typed for a moment, then handed it to Rosetti. "This is what we have. Can we try it again?"

Rosetti took the OSD, and looked it over for a moment. His eyes widened. "This is not the same that we were working off of. Where did you get this?"

"From Shepard, just a few hours ago."

Miranda and Ash looked at each other, before Miranda turned back to Rosetti. "What do you mean 'that's not what we were working off of?'"

Rosetti only glanced over at her. "The DNA we had wasn't the same. There were subtle differences. Who collected our sample?"

Miranda thought for a moment, then closed her eyes, a look of disgust coming over her face. "Wilson. That pathetic worm!"

Rosetti looked up from the OSD. "What do you mean?"

"He was responsible for the attack at the facility. He reprogrammed the drones to attack the personnel, and tried to kill Shepard, Jacob, and myself."

Rosetti nodded quickly, then went back to the OSD. "Ah, I can see why you would call him a worm, then. As long as this DNA sample is good, should have no problem cloning new lungs."

Ash let out a small sigh of relief. "We noticed that there's some damage to the cybernetics in his brain, where some parts had been replaced by cybernetic implants. Do you think cloning would work there?"

Rosetti didn't even glance up from the OSD. "Probably not. Cloning brain tissue just never works properly. That is one case where cybernetics usually works better."

Ash tried to hide her disappointment. _One step at a time, we can get him breathing again, then we can go from there. _"Well, Carmen, Doctor Chakwas, I can tell you both have a lot of work ahead of you. Let Miranda or myself know what you need, and we'll get it for you."

As Ash started to turn to leave medbay, Rosetti called to her. "Dear, don't worry. I'll do everything I can to get your fiancée back."

She turned back to him. "How… how did you know?"

Rosetti looked up from his OSD, raising an eyebrow as he looked pointedly at her left hand. "Please, I didn't become the best in the galaxy at what I do by overlooking the fine details. After all, that's what the big picture is made out of."

Ash nodded. "Thank you." She left med bay quickly, not trusting herself to stay any longer.

* * *

><p><strong>So there we go, another chapter down. Please, feel free to leave any review, positive, negative, or offers to fund my future writing (cashier's check, money order and paypal accepted!)<strong>

**As this story finishes up, along with the sister story Convictions, I fins myself torn. I promised to keep both stories going, but I'm not sure if I should start new stories, or keep their future exploits under the same original titles. My concern is that I don't want the people who follow this story to miss out on the future of these two, but the future of the characters may not match up with the titles... so any thoughts on that, please feel free to let me know!**

**Coming up next... old faces, old problems, new complications.**


	8. He's still not waking up

**I find myself apologizing for going so long between updates, that it should be rote by now. So, assume I apologized, I'll assume I'm forgiven, and let's get on with it!**

**Bioware owns everything. In related news, Canada has just been purchased by a video game company that was started by two doctors...**

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><p>Ash sat at the desk in her and Shepard's cabin, her head in her hands. It was three days since they had picked up Doctor Rosetti from Omega, and in that time, he had been able to clone new, fully functional, lungs for Shepard, and had performed the surgery to implant them. Shepard's body had accepted the implants, and he was now breathing on his own.<p>

After realizing that Wilson had interfered with the project more than she had initially realized, Miranda had decided to go over all of the reports with Carmen and Doctor Chakwas to look for any other signs of sabotage. So far, they hadn't found anything in the reports, but they still had the problem of the damage done to his neural implants. Unfortunately, the head of that department from the project had been confirmed by Miranda as having been killed, so they were scrambling to find anything that could prove useful.

She had never been one to shy away from a fight, but being powerless to help her loved ones was always a feeling she hated. She couldn't stand knowing that her fiancé was lying on a bed in med bay, possibly never wake up again, and there was nothing to do. She kept reading the reports from Project Lazarus, but she couldn't make heads or tails of most of the detailed information.

She was just about to give up for the night and try to get some sleep when her console chirped, indicating she had a call. Wearily, she opened the console, and saw Kelly on the screen.

"Kelly, I thought I said I didn't want to be disturbed." Ash noted her voice sounded tired, almost as tired as she felt.

"I know, but a call came through for you. I think you may want to take it."

Ash sighed. "All right, put it through."

"Yes ma'am."

The screen briefly flickered, and an image of an older woman replaced the yeoman.

"Hello, this is Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams, to whom am I speaking?"

The woman on the screen smiled. "Hello, Lieutenant Commander Williams, it's good to see you again. My name is Helena Blake."

_Again? _Ash didn't hide her confusion. The name sounded like it should be familiar, but Ash couldn't place it. "I'm sorry…"

"Of course, I wouldn't expect you to remember me. I used to be a criminal. A few years ago, I had asked Shepard to help me eliminate my business partners. I had fully expected him to try to kill me too, or arrest me. But he gave me a second chance, and I told myself that I would take full advantage of that chance."

Ash remembered. She and Shepard had argued about him letting her go, but he had finally convinced her that everyone deserved a second chance, even a criminal. Obviously, he had been right.

"Of course, I remember now. What can I do for you, Ms Blake?"

"It's actually what I can do for you. When the Patriarch told me what happened to Shepard… well, I remembered the faith he had in me that I could do something good for the galaxy. When I met him on Omega those few months ago, he seemed… proud, that I was able to turn my life around. In all my years, I've never experienced that before."

Ash knew exactly what she meant. She had seen time and time again, that when Shepard had put his faith and trust in someone, it compelled them to never let him down.

"Anyways," Helena continued, "he helped me, once, and it's time I helped him. I'm sending you some reports and data that I was able to dig up through some of my old contacts concerning cybernetic enhancements to human physiology, and the effects of damaging said enhancements. When it comes to effects on the human brain, I wasn't able to find much more than some papers which are far beyond my understanding, but I've included them anyways. I know you'll have people far smarter than I that can make sense of them."

Ash was speechless. She had seen acts of mercy and compassion before, but never before had a near complete stranger done anything like this for her before. "I… I don't know what to say. Thank you, Ms Blake."

The older woman waved her off. "Don't thank me. When he wakes up, you thank him for having faith that an old crook could change her ways. I owe him at least this much."

Ash's terminal chirped, and a message came up that the files had all been transferred. "Please, Lieutenant Commander… if there's anything else I can possibly do, let me know."

Ash nodded. "Thank you, so much, Ms Blake. I'll let you know what happens."

The older woman smiled, and disconnected the call.

For the first time in days, Ash smiled. _Maybe we're not too late after all_ she thought to herself as she loaded the data onto an OSD before making her way down to medbay.

* * *

><p>"Liara, I don't know what to do," Ash admitted to the asari. "The information Helena gave us helped, but he's still not waking up."<p>

It was several days after Ash's conversation with Helena Blake, and Ash was pacing the science room in frustration. The information Helena Blake had given them had helped direct them to a salarian neurosurgeon on Illium that specialized in repairing and replacing cybernetic enhancements in various species' neural systems. When the doctor had found out that he would be working on Shepard, he had refused any payment, saying that Shepard had helped his family recover some important information regarding their family history, and it would be his pleasure to repay him.

While the surgery had been successful, and the new neural implants were working, Shepard had still remained unconscious. Doctor Chakwas had seen an almost immediate return of normal neural activity, but they couldn't tell why he was still unconscious.

Liara looked up from her console. "The important thing is that he's off all life-support. It may just be that he has to finish healing before he can regain consciousness."

Ash didn't stop her pacing. "But what if he won't wake up? What if the brain damage is too severe? What if…"

"Ash." Liara put such a commanding tone into that one word that Ash stopped her pacing and looked at her, startled. "We've taken everything into account. No one has had as extensive cybernetic implants in their brain as Shepard, but all of the information points us to it being a matter of time until it rewires itself and he wakes up. We should be hopeful."

She came from behind the table to where Ash was standing. "He's alive, and functioning on his own. That in and of itself is a monumental improvement from where we were just a few weeks ago…" She slowly put her arms around the numb-looking woman. "… though I know that does little to ease your concerns."

They stood there for a moment before Ash spoke. "I'm sorry, Liara. I'm really worried. I know it's difficult for you too, considering how you feel about him."

Liara pulled away and held Ash at arm's length, looking at her in the eyes. "He is a dear friend, as are you. Yes, there may have been a point where I thought I loved him… but that is the past. Now, I do everything I can to help my friend."

Ash nodded. "Thanks, Liara. I think I needed to hear that."

The two women smiled at each other, but before either of them could say anything more, Kelly came over the comm. "Ash, Liara, we have a call for the two of you."

Ash's brow furrowed in confusion. "For the two of us, Kelly?"

"Yes ma'am. It's from someone on Illium… she named the two of you, specifically."

This time, it was Liara's turn to show her confusion. "Who would know the two of us are on the ship?"

Ash shrugged slightly. "I don't know. Guess we better go find out, though."

They both walked from the research center out to the CIC, passing behind Kelly to get to Shepard's station. Ash keyed the console, and a familiar, though unexpected, green face appeared.

"Hello, Ms Williams, Dr. T'soni."

"Shiala! I haven't seen you since Feros, after we fought the Thorian." Ash looked over to Liara, who looked similarly surprised.

The green Asari smiled slightly. "Yes, though I wish we had met under better circumstances. I apologize, I do not mean to concern myself in affairs that aren't my business, but I heard about Shepard…"

"How did you hear about what happened to Shepard?"

Shiala smiled. "I was on Omega when a certain human Spectre pulled a gun on Aria T'Loak. Not too many people live through a situation like that, so word spread. The Patriarch told me that you were looking to try to help Shepard, though he declined to tell me more. So I came to Illium to try to reach you, Dr. T'soni. I remembered you were there with Shepard on Feros. I came to offer whatever help I could, though I found out you were no longer keeping your office here. Through some digging, I found out the Normandy was docked, and I, as the humans would say, 'put two and two together.' I would like to offer whatever help I can. Shepard helped me and the colonists of Zhu's Hope twice, it's time I try to return the favor."

Ash smiled. Shepard had told her about meeting Shiala again on Illium. "I appreciate your willingness to help, Shiala… but I'm not sure how you could."

"I don't know much about what happened to me because of the thorian's influence, but it has given me certain … unique, traits. Among them, I can heal from any injury very quickly. Perhaps my unique genetic structure might hide something that could be of some benefit."

Liara spoke up. "I still have my old operation on Illium, and access to the needed labs and equipment to look into this." She looked to Ash. "What do you think, Ash?"

Ash regarded the green skinned asari for a moment. There had been a time, back on Feros, where she would have killed the woman and not thought twice about it. To have her offering her assistance humbled Ash. "Of course, we'd be grateful for any help. Come to dock twelve."

Shiala nodded. "Thank you for the chance to help. I'll see you soon."

The screen went black. From behind her, Ash heard Liara say "It seems that the old saying is true, 'it's good to have friends.'"

Ash nodded. "Yeah… I guess… I never realized how many lives he touched, how many people he helped…" she blinked her eyes a few times to suppress the tears that were forming. Turning, she smiled to Liara, and to Kelly, whom she hadn't even heard come over to them. "Come on, let's get ready to greet our guest."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it's a short one this time, we'll get something more meaty shortly! I wrote this as a response to the seeming lack of any of the people Shepard helped actually returning the favour, ungrateful bastards.<strong>

**As always, all reviews welcome!**

**Also, as to the continuation... yeah, everything will be under this title. So while the main story arc that was planned will end, I'll keep Rules of Engagement going on. Yay! Cookies for everyone!***

***This is just a saying, I will not be providing anyone cookies****

****Unless you're really nice to me... then I'll consider it*****

*****No I won't.**


	9. They're Here

**So, we got another update here. Written before ME3 actually was released. **

**Bioware owns everyone, but they lease them out from time to time.**

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><p>Later that day, Ash sat alone in her cabin. The reports crawling across the screen on her OSD were the furthest thing from her mind. She had been with Liara and Shiala for most of the day at one of Liara's hidden offices, running some tests to see if Shiala's unique body chemistry could be used to help heal Shepard. While there were many promising starts, it would take some time to know if anything could be used. Shiala had offered to stay with them on the Normandy, in case there was any other way she could help.<p>

Kelly had helped Shiala get settled in to the port observatory, which until a few weeks ago had been occupied by Samara. Ash had gone to medbay to see Shepard, and see if Doctor Chakwas had made any progress, but there was nothing new in his condition. After some time, the older woman had convinced Ash to try to get some rest, though it was proving to be a difficult thing to do. To try to bore herself, she had tried going over various reports that had gone neglected, but she still couldn't focus on them.

She was constantly going from her concern for Shepard to her worry about their mission. Since Shepard's collapse, they hadn't made any headway in finding a way to fight the Reapers. She felt pulled in different directions; on one hand she wanted to do everything she could for Shepard, and on the other she knew they still had to stop the reapers from invading. Logic dictated that she put the needs of the galaxy before the needs of Shepard, but her heart was having a tough time accepting that.

So lost in her thoughts was she, she barely noticed the door to the cabin chirp, until finally EDI appeared from the holoemitter built into the desk. "Lieutenant Commander Williams? Miranda is requesting entrance to see you."

Ash shook her head. "Oh, yes. Please, unlock the door, EDI."

EDI's blue avatar disappeared as the cabin door entered. Ash rose as her XO walked in. Ash noted that she was wearing what had become her default casual outfit of black pants and a gray tank top. _Not a business visit then,_ Ash thought to herself. If Miranda was here as her XO, she would be wearing her black and white uniform. Ash motioned to the couch. "Sorry about that, Miranda, I was off in my own little world."

Miranda smiled as she sat down across from Ash. "Not a problem at all, Ash, I completely understand."

"Can I get you anything? Water? Wine? I know John has a bottle of the good stuff hidden away."

Miranda smiled a little. "No, thanks, I'm all set."

Ash sighed, regarding the former Cerberus operative for a moment. In the months that they've known each other, they had grown close, closer than Ash had initially thought they would be, all things considered. "Why do I get the feeling that I know why you're here?"

"Because you're an intelligent woman." Miranda paused for a moment, not sure of how to proceed. "Ash… I can only guess as to how hard this has been on you. I can't imagine what I would do if it was Jack lying on a bed in medbay. But… we need to get moving. We still need to stop the reapers, and we've been getting reports of strange signals being picked up all throughout the galaxy. I think we're running out of time."

Ash looked down. "I know. I guess this is why there are rules against fraternization. I haven't been able to think clearly since John went down."

Miranda nodded. "I figured that was why you pulled a gun on Aria. No one in their right mind would do that and expect to live."

Ash laughed lightly. "Yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly then. It worked, though, didn't it?"

Miranda smiled. "I guess it did."

Ash sighed, then stood up and began pacing in front of the fish tank. "Part of me is just so pissed off right now. I lost him once, got him back, and now I lost him again. And it's not like the attack on the Normandy,he's lying right there in med bay! I feel so… helpless. Knowing he's right there, but something's incredibly wrong… I don't know what to do. I know he wouldn't give up trying to save me, and I can't give up on him."

Miranda looked at Ash, regarding her for a moment. "Ash, if he doesn't wake up… he would want you to carry on, to continue the work that you started. We'll keep looking for ways to help him, but we still have a job to do."

Ash stopped her pacing and faced the fish tank. As brutal as it was to hear, she knew Miranda was right. She would have to put her personal feelings aside for now, and get back to work. They had little enough information as it was, and they were facing an enemy that was almost incomprehensible. She knew they couldn't delay any longer.

"You're right, Miranda. We'll have to do what we can for him… but we also have to do what we can for everyone else." Ash turned to face Miranda, her face as professional as she could make it. "Thanks."

Miranda stood and walked over to Ash. She could see the Spectre trying to hold back her tears. Every part of her wanted to reach out and embrace her, to tell her that John would be alright, but she didn't feel that she had any right to try to comfort her, especially since she had been the one to tell Ash that they had to put Shepard's recovery to the side.

Miranda nodded then went to walk past Ash. She was just reaching the door when the floor fell out from beneath her. Quickly recovering her footing, she looked to Ash, who was similarly getting her balance back. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know. Let's get down to CIC."

When the doors opened after the brief elevator ride down to CIC, they emerged into a room full of chaos. Walking up to her and Shepard's terminal, Ash pulled up the ship's holographic image in the galaxy map to check for damage. "Kelly, what the hell is going on?"

The yeoman was already checking the various damage reports. "I don't know, ma'am. It's like the whole planet just shuddered."

Miranda ran over to one of the open terminals and patched into the local broadcasting systems, trying to find out what happened. "With our inertial dampeners on, the planet should be able to take a 7.5 scale earthquake without us feeling it. Something's happening."

"Uh, I think I know what's going on." Joker's voice came over the comm to the three women. "Patching through a feed from one of the local traffic satellites."

The holograph of the Normandy disappeared, and in its place was an image of Illium. "What are those ships burning into the atmosphere?" Kelly pointed to one of dozens of brightly glowing objects.

Ash and Miranda looked at each other. They already knew the answer. "Those aren't ships. They're reapers."

Immediately, a hush fell over the CIC. Joker pulled back the image, and they could see what they thought were dozens of reapers were actually hundreds, all entering the atmosphere. "Shit…" Joker's voice faded before he could say anymore.

Miranda snapped out of her reveille. "Ash, orders?" She looked up to see Ash staring at the image. "ASH!"

Ash blinked once, and then looked back down to her terminal. "We can't take all of them on. We have to go and rendezvous with the fleet, coordinate a counter-offensive. Joker, take us out of the world!"

"Aye aye!"

Almost as one, the entire crew snapped into action. As the Normandy flew up from the dock, Ash opened the shipboard comm. "Everyone, listen up. The reapers are here. We're leaving Illium to try to rendezvous with the fleet. In the meantime, everyone, brace for evasive maneuvers!"

Just as Ash finished speaking, Joker banked hard to port, sending anyone who wasn't already hanging on to something tumbling through the CIC. As the Normandy righted itself, Ash opened the comm to call the cockpit. "Joker, get us to the mass relay! We need to get to the Citadel!"

Not waiting for an answer, she continued looking at the displays. "EDI, how many reapers are we looking at?"

"There are three hundred forty-two in orbit. Fortunately, they are concentrating on the planet's surface itself, none are giving chase to any ships leaving. We should be clear as soon as we clear the atmosphere."

"Which we're doing… now." Some of the characteristic calm and bravado had returned to Joker's voice. "Plotting a course to the mass relay. ETA there is forty five minutes."

"Good Job guys. Let me know if anything changes." As Ash closed the comm, Kelly called over to her. "Ma'am, we're getting an awful lot of mayday calls from Illium. What should I do?"

Ash hesitated for a moment. Every part of her screamed to help what people they could. As a soldier, she couldn't wrap her mind around leaving anyone behind. But she also knew that to put up any type of fight right now would mean the Normandy would be destroyed, and any chance they had being lost. Feeling every bit the villain, she knew what they had to do.

"Close local comm channels. We can't help them if we're dead." Ash closed her eyes for a moment. _Our Father, I know I can't help them all, but please… let me help some of them. _Her brief prayer finished, she looked back to the terminal. "Kelly, I need to get through to the fifth fleet before we hit the mass relay."

Not getting a response, Ash looked over to the yeoman. She still had the Illium comm channels open on her terminal, with her hand pressed against her mouth as she heard the screams of people dying as they asked for help. Ash walked over, and closed the comm channels. Gently grabbing Kelly by the shoulders, she forced her to look into her eyes. Ash saw the panic and the fear almost taking control.

"Kelly, I need you to focus. I know a lot of people are dying down there, but a lot more are going to die if we don't do our jobs." After a moment, Kelly nodded. She blinked the tears that had been forming away, and breathed deeply.

"I'm ok… thanks. I'll get Admiral Hackett."

Ash nodded, confident that Kelly would be able to focus. Going back to her terminal, she called over to Miranda. "Miranda, damage report?"

"Minimal. It looks like most of the damage is internal, from supplies and freight not being secured. Minor injuries from being tossed around, but nothing major."

Ash nodded. It looked like they had made a clean getaway. "Lieutenant, I have the Admiral for you."

Ash opened her comm channel on the terminal, and Admiral Hackett appeared. "Lieutenant Commander, I hear you have some news."

"Aye, sir. The reapers are here. We just escaped Illium, and we're heading towards you."

"Negative. Stick to your mission."

Ash couldn't believe it. "But sir, we have to strike…"

"Williams, we've already gotten reports of other planets being hit. The Alliance and Council fleets are working to coordinate a response. In the meantime, we still need you to find us a way to fight back. You can't do that if you're flying point with us."

Ash knew he was right, though she hated to admit it. But she knew that they had the best chance of finding a weakness in the reapers. Their last good lead had been the lost protheans on the citadel, but after Shepard had been hit from that last beacon, they had been called away to help the Migrant fleet, where John had fallen. They would need time to figure out what their next move would be.

Time they didn't have. Looking back to the Admiral, she nodded. "Aye, sir. We'll keep you posted on what we find. If you need anything, let us know."

Admiral Hackett nodded once. "Try to stay out of the populated systems unless you have to. We have reports all the way from Omega to the Hawking Eta… to the local cluster. Be a ghost, that's an order."

Ash understood completely. If the reapers saw them, knowing that Shepard was on board, they were in trouble. Their escape from Illium had been luck, which they would have in short supply from now on. "Aye aye, sir."

"Oh, and Williams… if there's a sudden spike in transmissions from a certain Alliance frigate to civilian locations… I'll chalk it up to a systems glitch. Understood?"

Williams nodded. The Admiral was giving them his permission to try to alert their families, for whatever good that would do. More than likely to say good bye, but the gesture was not lost on her. "Aye sir. Thank you."

With a quick salute, Admiral Hackett disconnected the call. Ash stood there for a moment before keying her comm. She felt an intense cold in her bones, and she realized that she had run out of time and options. "Joker, change in destination. Take us to Omega, using the back roads. We need to stockpile some firepower."

"Omega, ma'am? What's at Omega? The fleet's massing at the Citadel."

"I know… we're not meeting up with them. Set course for Omega for now, I'll let you know if anything changes."

"… ok. Hitting the mass relay in twelve minutes, after that, we're three days away from Omega."

"Thanks, Joker." Ash closed the comm. She turned away from her terminal, heading towards the elevator. "Ash?" She heard Miranda call after her.

"Miranda, setup some terminals so that people can get messages off to their families. No live chats, we need to keep the bandwidth open, but they should have a chance to say what they need to say."

With that, Ash strode into the elevator, letting the door close behind her.

Ash took the elevator down to med bay. As she reached the crew deck, she was relieved to see the crew already in the process of cleaning up from their hasty escape from Illium. As she entered med bay, she was relieved to see Doctor Chakwas ushering her last patient out.

"Many injuries?"

The doctor shook her head. "Mostly just some scrapes and bumps. The worst was Engineer Donnelly, who dislocated his shoulder preventing Gabby from falling over the safety railing. Other than that, everyone's fine."

"Good. Doctor, if I could… May I have a moment alone with Shepard?"

The older woman regarded Ash for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Of course, I'll be outside."

Ash watched Doctor Chakwas leave medbay before she went to Shepard's side. She pulled up a crate next to him, and took his limp hand in hers.

"Hey, Skipper. I don't know if you can hear me, but I needed to talk to you. The reapers are here. Be glad you missed the start of it all, though part of me was sure Joker's flying would be enough to wake you. I… I don't really know what to do here. We still have no way to fight back, and we're out of time. I wish I could just focus on helping you… but we have to try to help the fleets."

She looked down, and saw the ring on her finger that Shepard had given her. It seemed like forever ago, though it was only a few short months. "I know we haven't had much time together, and even less time talking about… us, but I promise you, I'll figure a way out of this, and bring you back to me. I lost you once, and I won't lose you again. But before I can get you back, I need to help others from losing their loved ones. I know you'd understand, but… God dammit, Shepard, it's not fair!"

She buried her face in Shepard's hand, feeling the tears flow. After only a moment, Ash lifted her head, and used her other hand to wipe her tears away. "Whatever happens, I will always love you. And if you don't get better to help me, I'll kick your ass."

With that, Ash stood, and leant over Shepard, placing a soft kiss on his lips. Sighing, she let go of his hand, and walked out of med bay. As she passed through the door, she saw Doctor Chakwas waiting for her. "Thank you, doctor."

"Anytime, dear Anytime."

Ash walked back to the elevator as the doctor went back into med bay. As the doors closed behind her, she hit the controls to take her up to her cabin. She was mentally making a checklist of things she needed to do, and there was one big thing that she had to do before she could truly get herself ready for what was to come.

As the door opened to the top deck, she walked over and into her cabin. She sat down at the terminal. She knew what she had to do, but had no idea how to say it. She had always considered herself an action person. She could never find the correct words for how she was feeling, though she had somehow gotten better at it since meeting Shepard.

She looked over to the picture frame on the desk. When she had come on board, she had seen that Shepard had kept a picture of her the entire time during his fight against the Collectors. After their reunion, they had replaced that picture with one of the two of them, taken on the Presidium on the Citadel. It was the day after Shepard had proposed, and they couldn't have been happier.

_A long ways away from where we are now,_ she thought bitterly. She opened the terminal, and started a new video message. After taking a few breaths to steady herself, she hit the record button.

"Hey Abs. I had a moment, and needed to get a message off to you. You know I've been off on a mission, and I couldn't tell you exactly what it is… but I've been off trying to find a way to beat a threat that's trying to kill everyone in the galaxy. And I'm not exaggerating to make myself sound better, that's what it's after. Some worlds are already under attack. We're still trying to fight them back… but it's not looking good. I hope you guys are safe, and I'll do everything I can to keep you safe… but that might mean that I don't get to see you again.

"I don't know if I will be able to get another message off to you. I'm sorry that I let you all down. Shepard is… hurt, and I don't know if he's going to be ok or not. But I have to keep going, for you guys. So, I'll send you another message if I can… but… just in case, Abs, will you tell everyone… good bye, for me? I love you all."

Ash quickly hit the stop button, before she lost all control. The screen blinked with the message to either save or delete the message. Before she could think twice, she hit the send button.

Not allowing herself anytime to get caught up in her feelings, she kept going down her mental checklist. "EDI, can you do something for me?"

The AI's hologram appeared next to her. "Of course, Lieutenant Commander Williams. What do you need?"

"I need you to tell Garrus, Jacob, Miranda, Jack, Kelly, Liara, and Shiala to meet me in the briefing room in thirty minutes." She didn't name these people lightly. For the meeting she was planning, she would need people whose judgment she trusted, as well as those who she counted on for emotional support. Also, for what she had in mind, she would need the help of both asari.

"Of course. Shall I set a reminder for you?"

"No thanks, EDI. I'll be there."

As EDI's image disappeared, Ash could only hope that she was ready for what she knew she would have to do.

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><p><strong>So, here we go, the start of the invasion. I'll try to keep up on my updates, sorry for slacking! As always, all reviewscomments are welcome!**

**Coming up next: Ash's decision, visions of the past... and the beginning of the end.**


	10. Open Your Eyes

**So sorry for the lack of updates! I've been pretty busy lately, but I'll try to keep the updates coming bi-weekly from here on out. As I said in Champion and the Pirate, though, I have a little one due any day, so that might not happen, but I'll try!**

**Once again, Bioware owns the people, the places, the things... but until they claim imminent domain on my soul, they'll never have my ideas!**

**Unless they hire me. Cross your fingers!**

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><p>They sat in the briefing room, trying to decide what to do. Shepard, while breathing on his own and now showing brain activity, was still unconscious. Nothing they did to try to wake him seemed to work, and Doctor Chakwas was getting leery of trying to do too much more, less it adversely affect his condition.<p>

In the meantime, they were still trying to find a way to stop the Reapers, who had already begun their invasion. All of this had led them to this meeting.

Ash, Liara, Miranda, Kelly, Shiala, Jacob, Garrus, and Jack all sat around the briefing table. They had decided that, with or without Shepard, they had to continue the mission. The reapers had started their invasion, millions were dying, and they were still scrambling for a way to fight them. They had no more time to look for a way to restore Shepard.

It was a conclusion that did not sit well with Ash. She knew, though, that he would want them to continue with the mission. But they had a roadblock.

"The knowledge in Shepard's mind is required if we're going to try to make sense of the prothean data recovered from the Citadel beacon." Liara was addressing everyone. "When he was rebuilt, he had somehow lost the cipher. That's why the last beacon made no sense to him."

"I could provide the cipher again, but with Shepard unconscious, it would be useless."

"Me." Everyone looked to Ash. "Give me the cipher. If we can get the information from Shepard's mind into mine, with the cipher I could make sense of it." Ash looked to Shiala and Liara. "Can that be done?"

Liara and Shiala looked to each other for a moment. "A four-way meld would be possible, though taxing for everyone involved." Shiala also looked uncomfortable as she continued. "Since my release from the thorian, I have been plagued by visions of my time with it. I cannot say if those visions would be passed to anyone else should I attempt a meld."

Liara also looked concerned. "We would also have a bigger problem than that to consider. We don't know if we could get anything from his mind, with him being… unresponsive. If there are no thought patterns there to tap into… we might find ourselves in a similar condition."

Garrus looked over to Ash. "There's no point in risking yourself on the off-chance that you can get something from Shepard's mind."

Jack leaned forward. "And what if there's nothing there that can help us? Then we're back to square one anyways."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Ash closed her eyes for a moment. _He would want to give us every chance possible._ She nodded to herself, and then looked to everyone in the room. "I understand. But it's the best chance we have now. We have to do this."

She slowly stood from the table, noticing that everyone was watching her. "Shiala, Liara… let's not waste any time. Everyone else, we'll let you know how it goes. Miranda, if anything goes wrong…"

"I understand, Ash. Good luck, all of you."

Slowly, the two Asari rose from the table as well, following Ash out and into the elevator to go down to med bay. Ash felt completely numb. _He'll be fine, he'll be fine. _The thought kept repeating itself in her mind, almost as if she thought it enough, it would be true. She knew, though, that she would have to steel herself against the possibility that she was about to kill the man that she loved. She forced herself to push that thought aside. If something happened, they would have to handle it then. There was no point in worrying about it now.

The doors opened to the crew deck, and the three women walked over to med bay. Each step brought Ash closer to tears with fear for her fiancé. As they entered med bay, Doctor Chakwas looked up, saw who it was, and nodded, almost as if she had expected this. "Just so you're all aware… neural activity is reading extremely high. I'm not sure what's causing it… but be careful.

Ash nodded absently. She walked over to the side of Shepard's bed, and gently grasped his limp hand. There was so much she wanted to say, just in case… but she knew they had no time. Every moment wasted was more lives lost. "Ok, let's do it."

Shiala stood across from her, while Liara stood next to her, close to Shepard's head. They both put their hands to his temples, and then placed theirs on hers. As both of their eyes went black, Ash's stomach dropped, and she was overcome with an incredible sense of vertigo. She barely heard the two Asari speak in unison:

"Embrace eternity!"

**_Screams, cries, explosions, death, emptiness, fear, despair, falling, drowning, burning, hot, cold. Ash was overwhelmed as the sensations of eons of knowledge flooded through her. There was a jumble of images, and a cacophony of sounds, all lasting for the briefest of moments. She saw a hand reaching from a planet and touch a mass relay. Hands spread from that relay to others, and hands coming from the relays reaching out and grasping the nearby planets. _**

**_She saw a reaper swallowing the citadel, then grow and expand to swallow the galaxy. She heard the screams of the protheans as they were exterminated. She could feel the rumble of the reapers in her bones, and somehow knew there was no escape._**

**_Finally, a clear light shown through the jumble of images. It engulfed her in warmth, and the vertigo disappeared. She felt like she was floating in a warm pool, when suddenly she felt someone grab her hand. She looked, and saw it was Shepard. A strange, gold light was coming from his eyes and mouth, and Ash felt it enter her own. She felt herself racing upwards, faster and faster, Shepard still holding her hand, as the light linked them together. She felt a terrible sense of purpose starting in the back of her thoughts, but she couldn't focus on it yet. _**

_**Faster and faster they went. Ash tried to scream, but she had no breath. Her body began to tingle, and suddenly…**_

Ash opened her eyes, completely out of breath. It took a moment for her vision to return to process that she was in medbay. Both Shiala and Liara were leaning against the wall, trying to stay standing, both clearly exhausted as Doctor Chakwas quickly ushered them to open beds for them to lie down. Ash looked down at her hand, registering that Shepard held it in a vise grip. She looked to his face, and saw that his eyes were open, and he was staring at her.

"John, you're awake!"

He nodded, looking at her. "I feel like I've been asleep for weeks."

Ash smiled. "That's because you have been. That's the last time you take a vacation in the middle of a mission, soldier!"

Shepard smiled. "Aye aye, ma'am."

Doctor Chakwas came over and checked his vitals. "Well, Commander, it looks like everything's back to normal. I must admit, your ability to always find new ways to worry us gets a bit old."

Shepard smiled slightly. "Sorry, Doctor. I guess it's an old habit of mine." He looked back to Ash. "You saw everything that I did. Do you understand?"

She closed her eyes. She tried to process everything she had experienced. The reapers, the protheans… she remembered that sense of purpose that had festered in the back of her mind, and, like a puzzle, each piece started to fit together, and she had the whole picture.

"Yes… I understand it now."

They looked at each other for a moment, still holding hands. They finally knew what the reapers wanted, and understood their only chance to end the invasion.

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><p><strong>Next time, a debt repaid, running from the Reapers... and how will the crew respond to the startling revelations that Shepard and Ash have to share?<strong>

**All comments and reviews are more than welcome!**


	11. Countdown to the End

**I didn't forget about you guys, I swear! I've been so busy lately, I just haven't had the time. But I swear, I will finish this story! **

**From here on out, everything was written before ME3 was released. Just trying to get a good level of polish to make it acceptable to publishing, but all of the story and concepts were there. The rest of this has been falling into place easy enough, so you should be seeing the end of this in the next few updates. A three month old baby certainly puts a crimp in the plans of a writer, though, so take that with a grain of salt.**

**Bioware owns the characters, places, things, etc. I merely place them in different positions when they're not looking. :-)**

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><p>It was three days later. Shepard had called the entire strike team into the briefing room to let them know everything that he and Ash knew about the reapers. Miranda and Kelly were also both there, and Shepard would be briefing the rest of the crew later, but he wanted to talk to the team first.<p>

It had taken a while for him and Ash to completely sort through all of the information that the meld Shiala and Liara had performed on them had yielded, but finally, they had understood it all. Where to begin in telling the team, though, was proving difficult.

"I know this is going to be difficult to understand, but… the reapers aren't mindless killing machines. In fact, they're not killing machines at all."

Jack snorted. "Yeah, well, tell them that."

"Eons ago, they were created by a race, or a person, that they refer to as The One. There's no other information about The One other than it created the reapers, and tasked them with safeguarding the galaxy."

"We don't know what happened to The One, but we believe they, or it, either died or left the galaxy." Ash picked up where Shepard had left off. "The reapers were ordered to protect the younger races, and help them develop. So they setup the mass relay network, and built the Citadel. By leaving the technology out there for the younger races to discover, they planned to make contact with space faring races once they reached a certain level of development."

"What we believe happened is that they saw the more advanced races start to spread, and couldn't control it. Instead of letting the younger races that were still developing possibly get crushed, they decided to… 'prune the tree,' if you will."

"They started what they refer to as 'The Cycle.' They believe that this is the only way to keep the population of the galaxy manageable, so that there aren't too many advanced races taking up all the space and suppressing the younger races."

Shepard motioned to the ship surrounding them. "All of our technology, kinetic shields, artificial gravity, the mass relays, FTL communications… they created, then left so the younger races would find it and grow according to a predetermined path, which inevitably leads to a reaper invasion, and then extinction of every race advanced enough to be using the technology."

They were all silent for a moment as they processed this information. Finally, Jacob spoke up.

"So, they leave their technology behind, let us grow by using this technology, then kill us all because we've used their technology to threaten the younger races? I don't buy it."

Kelly countered him. "It makes sense, if you think about it. They're trying to protect the galaxy. What better way of doing it than removing the races that would threaten the younger ones? If they wiped out all life, there's no way to say that life would ever start again. It's like pulling weeds from a garden, you put down fertilizer for all the plants, but when the weeds start to threaten the tulips, you pull them out."

Jacob grunted. "I always hated gardening."

Ash interrupted. "Regardless as to if we all buy it or not, it's true. And there's something more." She looked to Shepard. "We know that we're not the first to fight back. The protheans fought back, and had the most success of any previous race, but they only delayed the reapers. It took decades, but eventually the reapers wiped them out."

"We can't fight them and win people." Shepard's words cut through all of them. He hated saying it, but it was a truth that they all needed to know, and had to understand. "We can fight them and take a lot of them with us, but eventually… they'll win."

Shepard refused to let them give up though. "We still have a chance, though. And I'm going to take it. I'm not giving up or getting ready to lie down and die any time soon. But I need you all to trust me. We're going to go to the Citadel and confront Harbinger himself."

"Ha." Zaeed stood up. "We go there and then what? 'Oh please, Mista Reaper, please don't kill us all?' Don't seem very appealing to me. You said it yourself, we can't beat them in a fight, so what's the point?"

Shepard looked Zaeed in the eye. He knew he has a point, but Shepard had another idea.

"No. I know there's not going to be any mercy from the reapers. And I'm not going to ask for any. If this doesn't work, I'm going to fight until the end, just as I know each one of you would."

"Alright, then, what are you planning," asked Garrus.

Shepard looked over the room. "Easy. I'm going to convince a machine that's millions of years old that it's wrong. It's our only shot. But I understand if any of you want to leave, to try to spend some time with family or loved ones. I won't hold it against you."

He let his words hang in the air for a moment. He was a little surprised when Garrus stood up.

"Normally, this is where I would make a sarcastic comment about how we're all going to die. But Shepard, if anyone can do it, it's you. I'm with you until the end."

Miranda stood up, followed quickly by Jack. "So are we."

Kasumi, Tali, and the rest all stood to show their support. He felt Ash put her hand on his shoulder. "Alright then. Let's finish this."

Ash and Shepard were in their cabin. The Normandy was making its way through the war to try to reach the Citadel. But they had a call to make to an old friend before they could rest.

Shepard and Ash both stood in the office area of the cabin. The glass wall in front of them was in its screen mode, and the two Spectres were waiting to get through to the Fifth Fleet.

After a while, Admiral Hackett's familiar face appeared. "Shepard, Williams, good of you to call. I hope you have good news for us all."

Shepard shook his head. "Sorry, Admiral. Nothing more than a plan. But I need your help, and I can't ask this of anyone else."

Hackett smiled grimly. "Hell, Shepard, after all you've done for me, you know you can count on me."

Shepard typed for a moment on the terminal. "I'm sending you some coordinates. In two days, we'll be at the Citadel, confronting Harbinger. If I need to, I'll send you a signal over this channel. I'll need ships to go through the mass relay there and attack everything on the other side."

Hackett didn't respond for a moment. "How many are waiting on the other side?"

"Six," came Ash's soft reply. It was clear that he realized what they were asking.

Hackett nodded. "Of course." He was silent for a moment, lost in thought. "Shepard, let me ask you something. Do you truly believe that we have a chance? That we can all survive and push back the reapers?"

Shepard didn't answer for a moment. He searched his feelings, looking past all the doubt and fear that he had, and knew that he had an answer for the Admiral. He stood a little straighter, and with every bit of himself, said "I do, Admiral."

Hacket nodded to himself. "Good. That's all I need to hear. You send the signal, Shepard, and I'll lead them through myself." He turned his attention to Ash. "Lieutenant Commander Williams."

Ash straightened up as well. "Yes sir."

"You're a credit not only to the Williams name and the service, but to humanity. Your grandfather would be damn proud of you."

Ash's eyes began to mist. "Thank you, sir. That means a lot coming from you."

"Now, on a personal note, Shepard is the closest thing I have to a son. You take damn good care of him, Marine, understood?"

Ash smiled and looked to Shepard. "I will sir."

Hackett nodded, satisfied. He stepped back away from the camera for a moment, and snapped a salute off to Shepard. "Give 'em hell, son."

Shepard and Ash both snapped to attention and returned the salute. "You too, sir."

The Admiral finished the salute. With no more words being needed, he closed the comm channel.

Ash and Shepard waited until the screen was dark before they finished their salute.

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><p><strong>As always, all reviews, comments, critiques, etc are welcome, positive or not!<strong>

**Up next... the confrontation.**


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